Aldosterone and postprandial renal excretion of sodium and potassium in sheep

When sheep rapidly eat a meal of dry feed a period of antinatriuresis and antidiuresis is rapidly initiated and lasts for 2-3 hrs. This is followed by a postprandial period of natriuresis and diuresis. This study tested the hypothesis that the postprandial natriuresis was due to a reduction in the secretion of aldosterone. In unanesthetized ewes of about 50 kg body wt, measurements were made of sodium and potassium excretion beginning in the terminal phase of the feed-induced antinatriuresis and continuing through the period of postprandial natriuresis. Aldosterone, given by constant infusion at a physiological dose (10 microgram/h), inhibited the natriuresis. Spironolactone, a competitive inhibitor of aldosterone given as a single intravenous injection of 5 mg/kg body wt, did not significantly increase the natriuresis. These results support the stated hypothesis. Neither aldosterone nor spironolactone had a significant effect on potassium excretion. This finding supports earlier view that aldosterone has only a small role in the homeostatic control of potassium excretion in sheep.