Inhibition by bradykinin of renal adrenergic effects in anesthetized rats

We studied the contribution of prostaglandins to the actions of bradykinin at the renal vascular adrenergic neuroeffector junction by examining the effect of the peptide on the decrease in renal blood flow elicited by renal nerve stimulation and injected norepinephrine in pentobarbital-anesthetized rats with or without pretreatment with the cyclooxygenase inhibitors sodium meclofenamate or indomethacin. Infusion of bradykinin, 10 ng X kg-1 X min-1, into the renal artery reduced both the basal and the rise in renal vascular resistance produced by nerve stimulation or norepinephrine. The prostaglandin precursor arachidonic acid, 5 micrograms X kg-1 X min-1, infused into the renal artery, also reduced renal vascular resistance and the vasoconstrictor response elicited by either adrenergic stimulus. In animals pretreated with either sodium meclofenamate or indomethacin, the effect of arachidonic acid, but not that of bradykinin, to produce renal vasodilation and to attenuate adrenergically induced renal vasoconstriction was abolished. These data suggest that bradykinin produces renal vasodilation and inhibits the renal vasoconstrictor effect of adrenergic stimuli in the rat kidney in vivo by a mechanism unrelated to prostaglandin synthesis.