[Central cardiovascular and renal effects of atrial natriuretic peptide]

In 54 anesthetized rats, the changes in arterial blood pressure, heart rate and/or urine volume, urinary sodium excretion were observed following intracarotid, intrathecal and intracerebroventricular (ICV) injection of atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP). The effects of ANP on the central actions of angiotensin II (AG II) were also examined. The results were as follows: (1) In the cross-circulation preparation of rat head, MAP of the recipient was unchanged and that of the donor was decreased in response to the administration of alpha-hANP (15 micrograms/kg) into the carotid artery of the recipient. (2) By injecting AP III (5 micrograms/kg) intrathecally, MAP, HR and urine volume (V) of the rats (n = 7) showed no change. (3) The ICV injection of AP III (20 micrograms/kg) did not result in changes in MAP, HR, and urinary sodium excretion (UNaV), but there was a transient and significant increase in V. (4) ICV injection of AG II (1 microgram/kg) resulted in an increase of MAP by 1.3 +/- 0.17 kPa (10 +/- 1.3 mmHg, n = 10, P less than 0.001), V by 106% (n = 6, P less than 0.01) and UNaV by 642% (P less than 0.01). (5) ICV injection of AP III 2 min prior to the injection of AG II by the same route, the central hypertensive effect induced by AG II was not affected, while the increments in V and UNaV were decreased significantly (P less than 0.05). The results indicate that (1) ANP is incapable of penetrating the blood-brain barrier owing to its large molecular size and therefore, the central mechanism is not involved in the hypotensive effect induced by intravenous injection of ANF and (2) the central diuretic and natriuretic actions of AG II may be markedly inhibited by ICV injection of ANP, thus indicating the existence of some central antagonistic interactions between AG II and ANP.