Quantification of intermediate steps in the renin-angiotensin-vasoconstrictor feedback loop in the dog.

The major intermediate steps in the renin-angiotensin-vasoconstrictor feedback loop have been experimentally determined. The quantitative relationships between renal perfusion pressure, renin secretion, arterial renin activity, and systemic arterial blood pressure were determined in dogs in which the cardiovascular control loops of the central nervous system were eliminated by spinal cord destruction and decapitation. Step-decreases in renal perfusion pressure to a single kidney were introduced and maintained constant to open the feedback loop of arterial pressure. Renin activity was measured by radioimmunoassay of angiotensin I. Each decrease of 15 mm Hg in renal perfusion pressure between pressures of 100 and 50 mm Hg elevated the net secretion of renin nearly 20 ng min" g" kidney and the arterial renin activity nearly 7.0 ng ml"" hour". Renin secretion and arterial renin activity decreased at perfusion pressures below 50 mm Hg. A bioassay procedure for estimating the rate of angiotensin II formation at various increments of arterial renin activity showed that an increase in renin activity of 10 ng ml" hour" resulted in an increase in the net production of angiotensin II of 5.0 ng kg" min". The results of these experiments are useful in predicting alterations in the system that follow a decrease in renal artery pressure, and they clarify interactions of the renin-angiotensin system with other homeostatic pressure-regulating systems.