title: Is the chronically denervated kidney supersensitive to catecholamines?
abstract: One method for discerning the role of the renal sympathetic nerves in the regulation of renal function has been to chronically denervate one kidney. One concern with this approach is that increased renal responsiveness to plasma levels of norepinephrine may develop over time. This may reduce the apparent magnitude of the effect of the renal nerves or indeed completely mask their effect. In the present experiment, we used the rabbit unilateral denervated kidney model to examine the acute renal blood flow responses to phenylephrine to determine if there were differences between the responses in chronically denervated kidneys compared with either intact or acutely denervated kidneys. In addition, we examined the responses in rabbits that had been made hypertensive using a continuous infusion of ANG II for 7 wk. We found that chronic denervation did not result in increased renal responsiveness to phenylephrine compared with either the intact or acutely denervated kidney, suggesting that differences in renal function between renal nerve-intact and -denervated kidneys observed in previous studies are unlikely to be confounded by supersensitivity. These results suggest that the unilateral denervated kidney model is a valid model to study the role of the renal nerves in the regulation of renal function.
authors.affiliation: Circulatory Control Laboratory, Department of Physiology, University of Auckland Medical School, Private Bag 92019, Auckland, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Rohit
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ramchandra
authors.forename: Carolyn J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Barrett
authors.forename: Sarah-Jane
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Guild
authors.forename: Simon C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Malpas
mesh_terms: D000804:Angiotensin II / Q000494:pharmacology; D000818:Animals; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000502:physiology; D006977:Hypertension, Renal / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000503:physiopathology; D007668:Kidney / Q000737:chemistry / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000294:innervation*; D009638:Norepinephrine / Q000032:analysis / Q000502:physiology*; D010656:Phenylephrine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D011817:Rabbits; D012079:Renal Circulation / Q000502:physiology; D013562:Sympathectomy; D013566:Sympathomimetics / Q000494:pharmacology*; D014662:Vasoconstrictor Agents / Q000494:pharmacology
chemical_list: D013566:Sympathomimetics; D014662:Vasoconstrictor Agents; D000804:Angiotensin II; D010656:Phenylephrine; D009638:Norepinephrine