Amiloride reduces maternofetal clearance of sodium across the near-term rat placenta

D E Atkinson1, C P Sibley, N R Robinson

  • 1Department of Child Health, St Mary's Hospital, University of Manchester.

The effect of amiloride on unidirectional maternofetal clearance across the perfused placenta has been studied in rats at 21 days gestation. A bolus dose of 1 mg kg-1 followed by an infusion of 0.6 mg h-1 into the maternal circulation caused a significant (P less than 0.02) decrease in 22Na clearance by 8%, whilst having no effect on the clearance of 51Cr-EDTA; a ten times higher dose of amiloride (10 mg kg-1, 6 mg h-1) did not reduce 22Na clearance further. Similar administration of an equivalent volume of saline to control animals showed no effect on either Na+ or Cr-EDTA clearances.

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