Failure of changes in intracapillary pressures to alter proximal fluid reabsorption

To determine the role that peritubular capillary oncotic and hydraulic pressures play in regulating urinary sodium excretion in the euvolemic state, experiments were carried out in rats under conditions which altered these pressures without volume expanding the animal. In cross-circulation experiments, the donor rat was expanded with plasma or Ringer's solution while the recipient rat remained euvolemic. Micropuncture measurements in the euvolemic recipients demonstrated significant increases in efferent plasma flow rate (QEA), capillary hydraulic pressure (Pc), and decreases in mean capillary oncotic pressure (pi c). There were no changes in nephron GFR (SNGFR), absolute proximal reabsorption (APR), or UNaV. In additional studies, peritubular oncotic pressure was lowered markedly by plasmapheresis of the experimental animal. Large decreases in pi c were produced without any change occurring in SNGFR, APR, or UNaV. Measurements of interstitial hydraulic pressure (Pi) with a subcapsular pressure pipet revealed that Pi was unaltered under all of these conditions but rose markedly in rats undergoing a saline-expansion diuresis. Our findings indicate that APR and UNaV can remain constant despite large changes in pi c, Pc, and QEA in nonexpanded animals. Furthermore, the changes in pi c, Pc, and QEA induced in the euvolemic non-diuretic rats were the same as those in the saline-expanded diuretic rats. We conclude that under euvolemic experimental conditions, urinary sodium excretion and APR do not correlate with intracapillary pressures or flow rates in the renal cortex. The only difference found between the nondiuretic and diuretic rats was a rise in Pi in the latter group.