Factors affecting the urinary excretion of urea nitrogen in cattle. III.* High plasma urea nitrogen concentrations

The relationship between urinary urea nitrogen excretion, the filtered load of urea nitrogen, and the plasma urea nitrogen concentration were studied in cows intravenously infused with 0.5–10 g urea nitrogen per hour. These levels of infusion resulted in ranges of plasma urea nitrogen concentration of 12–63 mg/100 ml, of filtered urea nitrogen of 3–19 g/hr, and of urinary urea nitrogen excretion of 2.5–12.7 g/hr. There were linear relationships between the filtered load of urea nitrogen and the plasma urea nitrogen concentration (r = 0.91), between urinary urea nitrogen excretion and the filtered load of urea nitrogen (r = 0.92), and between urinary urea nitrogen excretion and the plasma urea nitrogen concentration (r = 0.97). It was concluded that the amount of urea excreted in the urine was regulated more by the plasma urea concentration than by renal processes such as glomerular filtration rate (GFR), the concentrating ability of the kidneys, or urine flow rate. The capacity of the bovine kidneys to excrete urea and mechanisms involved in the renal excretion of urea are discussed. The successful use of 51Cr-EDTA for the estimation of GFR in cattle is reported in an appendix. __________________ *Part II, Aust. J. Agric. Res., 21: 145 (1970).