Renal sodium reabsorption during saline loading and distal blockade in newborn dogs

The ability of the proximal tubule to respond to saline expansion and varying filtered sodium loads was studied in 27 neonatal dogs aged 1-23 days. Sodium reabsorption beyond the proximal tubule was blocked with ethacrynic acid and chlorothiazide. When puppies received an intravenous load of 0.9% saline for 1.5 h, fractional sodium reabsorption averaged 0.985. After the addition of distal blockade to the saline infusion fractional Na reabsorption fell to 0.512. During distal blockade alone fractional Na reabsorption was 0.701, and after 1.5 h of saline expansion added to distal blockade fractional Na reabsorption fell to 0.493. Thus, there was a significant decrease in proximal tubular fractional Na reabsorption after saline expansion in neonatal dogs, and the high fractional Na reabsorption and low Na excretion during saline loading without distal blockade must be due to a large distal Na reabsorption. When filtered sodium load was varied by raising and lowering the glomerular filtration rate during distal blockade, there was excellent correlation between amount of filtered and reabsorbed sodium (r = 0.92). Thus, glomerulotubular balance exists in newborn dogs when there is no saline expansion.