Suppression of adrenal renin in Dahl salt-sensitive rats.

We previously showed that adrenal renin is highest in the rat zona glomerulosa (ZG) and that low sodium or high potassium and nephrectomy increase adrenal ZG renin and aldosterone. Dahl salt-sensitive rats (S) have been shown to have lower plasma renin activity and plasma aldosterone and higher plasma 18-hydroxy-11-deoxycorticosterone than Dahl salt-resistant rats (R). In this study we assess the possible role of adrenal ZG renin in the suppression of aldosterone in S rats. Adrenal ZG renin was significantly decreased in S as compared with R rats even at 6 weeks of age, when both S and R rats are still normotensive (S = 7.2 +/- 0.2, R = 18.0 +/- 1.6 ng angiotensin I/mg protein/hr). Adrenal ZG aldosterone was also significantly lower in S than in R rats (S = 21.1 +/- 4.3, R = 39.5 +/- 3.6 ng/mg protein). Furthermore, the rise in adrenal ZG renin and aldosterone after nephrectomy in S rats was significantly less than that in R rats. To determine if the suppressed adrenal ZG renin of S rats is due to volume expansion, we studied the effect of a sodium-deficient diet on adrenal ZG renin in S and R rats. After 2 weeks of a sodium-deficient diet S rats had significantly lower basal adrenal ZG renin than did R rats (S = 7.6 +/- 0.4, R = 21.7 +/- 1.9 ng angiotensin I/mg protein/hr) and a marked blunting of the adrenal ZG renin response to nephrectomy (S = 13.6 +/- 1.1, DR = 167 +/- 16.1 ng angiotensin I/mg protein/hr).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)