Arginine vasotocin and glomerular filtration rate in saltwater-acclimated ducks

We examined the relationship between whole kidney glomerular filtration rate (GRF) and the plasma concentration of immunoreactive arginine vasotocin (AVT), the avian antidiuretic hormone, in saltwater-acclimated ducks. During steady-state diuresis, driven by infusion of sodium chloride solutions, transient reductions of [14C]inulin clearance (3 ml X min-1 X kg-1) occurred when plasma AVT concentrations were roughly doubled by systemic injection of synthetic AVT or after stimulation of endogenous AVT release by perfusion of the third ventricle with hypertonic artificial cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). Transient increases in GFR occurred when plasma AVT was reduced during inhibition of its endogenous release by hypotonic ventricle perfusion. GFR also increased after injection of AVT antiserum but returned to control values within 30 min, while plasma AVT concentration remained very low for at least 1 day. During antidiuresis evoked by infusion of strongly hypertonic saline, GFR values estimated from plasma disappearance curves of [125I]iothalamate were not different from the GFR values estimated subsequently with the same method in the same ducks made diuretic by hypotonic saline infusions, although AVT concentrations were depressed during the latter as compared with the former infusion. Factors other than AVT must be important for the control of GFR during sustained osmotic stress.