Role of anteroventral third ventricle and vasopressin in renal response to stress in borderline hypertensive rats.

The borderline hypertensive rat is the first filial offspring of the spontaneously hypertensive rat and the Wistar-Kyoto rat. In response to acute environmental stress (air jet), the borderline hypertensive rat exhibits a diuretic response, whereas the parental strains exhibit an antidiuretic response (spontaneously hypertensive rat) or no change in urine flow rate (Wistar-Kyoto rat). This study sought to investigate the role of the periventricular tissue surrounding the anteroventral third ventricle and vasopressin release in the diuretic response of the borderline hypertensive rat to acute environmental stress. Sixteen-week-old borderline hypertensive rats who had consumed a 1% NaCl diet for 10-12 weeks were given either electrolytic lesions of the anteroventral portion of the third ventricle or sham lesions. When exposed to acute environmental stress 4 weeks later, the increase in volume of dilute urine seen in the sham-lesion rats was not observed in the lesion rats. Plasma vasopressin concentration was decreased by acute environmental stress in the sham-lesion rats (15.2 +/- 4.0 to 10.9 +/- 1.7 pg/ml, p less than 0.05) but was unchanged in the lesion rats (12.3 +/- 2.0 to 13.4 +/- 4.0 pg/ml). In a separate group of intact borderline hypertensive rats, a constant intravenous infusion of vasopressin prevented the diuretic response to acute environmental stress. The results suggest that acute environmental stress produces a diuresis in the borderline hypertensive rats via a decrease in plasma vasopressin concentration that is dependent on the integrity of the periventricular tissue of the anteroventral portion of the third ventricle.