Renal responses to saline and atrial natriuretic factor infusions in Dahl rats

Weanling Dahl rats of the salt-sensitive and salt-resistant strains were kept either on a low salt diet for 10-15 weeks, or the diet was supplemented with 7% NaCl for the last 30 days. Animals were anesthetized and the renal responses to acute saline infusion and infusion of synthetic atrial natriuretic factor (ANF) were studied on both dietary regimens. Arterial blood pressures of sensitive and resistant groups were not different on the low salt intake. As expected, addition of dietary salt increased pressure markedly in the sensitive animals. Resistant rats also had smaller, but statistically significant, increases in pressure. On the low salt diet, salt-sensitive rats showed a larger renal response to saline infusion, whereas on the high salt diet there were no significant differences between strains. The responses to ANF infusion were not different between groups on either diet, although NaCl feeding potentiated the natriuresis and diuresis. Under the conditions of the present experiments there was, therefore, no indication that Dahl salt-sensitive rats had a relative inability to respond either to an acute saline load or to exogenous ANF administration.