Abstract
Abstract
Evidence for the participation of the liver in the control of sodium excretion is controversial. In the present study, Sprague—Dawley rats were fed either a low sodium diet or regular chow plus saline drinking for at least 1 week. The day of the experiment, the unanesthetized, undisturbed animals received infusions of isotonic saline (2% of body weight; 0.2 ml/min) either in a branch of the portal vein or in the jugular vein via chronically implanted catheters. There were no differences in renal sodium handling between portal and systemic infusions in sodium-restricted animals. Both absolute and fractional sodium excretion in sodium-loaded animals receiving portal infusions exceeded those of systemically infused animals at 30 and 60 min. There were no significant differences in hematocrit, serum sodium or potassium concentration, filtered load of sodium, or inulin clearances between groups of animals receiving portal and jugular infusions on either diet. The results provide evidence for a role of the liver in the control of the sodium excretion.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.