Influence of salt on response to nitrendipine by Dahl rat kidney

We examined the responses to the calcium channel blocker, nitrendipine, of isolated perfused kidneys from Dahl salt-sensitive (DS) and salt-resistant (DR) rats that had been stabilized on high- and low-NaCl diets. Blood pressures of high-salt DS rats exceeded those of the other three groups. After norepinephrine vasoconstriction sufficient to increase renal vascular resistance (RVR) by 50%, the superimposition of 10(-5) M nitrendipine increased the glomerular filtration rate (GFR) of high-salt DS rat kidneys by 125% over control values but returned the GFR of high-salt DR kidneys only to control. Nitrendipine superimposition increased the GFR of low-salt DS and DR rat kidneys by 124 and 40% over control values, respectively, and partially restored the RVR toward control. Nitrendipine alone, without norepinephrine, did not affect the GFR or RVR. The persistence within the DS kidney of an exaggerated glomerular circulatory "rebound" response to nitrendipine following the development of hypertension suggests the possibility of a maladaptation of DS kidney cell calcium regulation. The DR kidney manifests a similar response during salt restriction, but this disappears on a high-NaCl diet.