1. The effects of circulating angiotensin II on cerebrospinal fluid and plasma noradrenaline during frusemide administration and acute renal artery constriction were studied in dogs.
2. The administration of frusemide produced significant increases in cerebrospinal fluid and plasma noradrenaline. Intravertebral artery infusion of [Sar1, Ala8]angiotensin II (saralasin) significantly suppressed the frusemide-induced increases in cerebrospinal and plasma noradrenaline and resulted in a fall in arterial blood pressure.
3. Acute renal artery constriction produced the marked elevation of plasma noradrenaline and arterial blood pressure, although no significant increase was found in cerebrospinal fluid noradrenaline. Though intravertebral artery infusion of saralasin did not affect cerebrospinal fluid and plasma noradrenaline, intravenous infusion of saralasin reduced the increases in arterial blood pressure and plasma noradrenaline induced by acute renal artery constriction.
4. Plasma volume was significantly reduced by frusemide administration, but unchanged by acute renal artery constriction.
5. Therefore it is suggested that circulating angiotensin II may contribute to the regulation of blood pressure at least partially by acting on the central nervous system in the sodium- and volume-depleted states. However, the renin-angiotensin system appears to play a rather direct role in the mechanism of hypertension induced by renal artery constriction, not through the action of angiotensin II on the central sympathetic nervous system.
