Experiments were performed on 54 chronically water diuretic Munich-Wistar rats to investigate the effects of various antidiuretic peptides on the determinants of glomerular ultrafiltration. Transition from water diuresis to antidiuresis, induced either by intravenous infusion of 1) exogenous peptides (Pitressin, synthetic arginine vasopressin, or synthetic [1-deamino,4-valine]-8-D-arginine vasopressin) or 2) dibutyryl cyclic AMP, or by stimulation of endogenous ADH release by acute, mild arterial hemorrhage, was associated with near-constant or decreased values for single nephron (SN) and total kidney GFR. Nevertheless, the glomerular transcapillary hydraulic pressure difference (deltaP) uniformly increased with antidiuresis, due to consistent reductions in Bowman's space hydraulic pressure rather than to increases in glomerular capillary hydraulic pressure, the former a consequence of the fall in urine flow rate. In all antidiuretic states, the rats were uniformly observed to be at filtration pressure disequilibrium, permitting calculation of unique values of the glomerular ultrafiltration coefficient (Kf). These values of Kf in antidiuresis were invariably lower than the values obtained during water diuresis. Whether these effects of ADH and DBcAMP on deltaP and Kf represent physiological influences in the control of GFR remains uncertain; their offsetting effects in the present studies usually failed to alter GFR appreciably.
The complex role of nitric oxide in the regulation of glomerular ultrafiltration