Renal autoregulation of blood flow and filtration rate in the rabbit

Electromagnetic flow techniques and inulin clearance were used to determine the autoregulatory capabilities of the rabbit kidney in vivo. Renal blood flow was measured in 13 animals over a renal perfusion pressure range of 40-110 mmHg. Normal renal blood flow averaged 3.2 +/- 0.3 ml.min-1.g kidney-1 and was efficiently autoregulated above a renal artery pressure of 75 mmHg. For every 10 mmHg renal pressure change above 75 mmHg renal blood flow changed only 0.96%. Renal perfusion pressure was reduced from 102 +/- 3 to 74 +/- 2 mmHg in six animals. Over this pressure range glomerular filtration rate was not significantly decreased and averaged 4.2 +/- 0.5 ml/min at high pressure compared to 4.0 +/- 0.5 ml/min at low perfusion pressure. Results show that the rabbit kidney autoregulates renal blood flow and glomerular filtration rate efficiently above 75 mmHg. This range of autoregulation compares well with the autoregulatory range of the dog. The results also show that in the autoregulatory range the rabbit and the rat appear to autoregulate with equal efficiency but that the rabbit kidney begins to autoregulate at a low perfusion pressure than the average of approximately 100 mmHg usually found in the rat.