Abstract
In a brief series of experiments 1 it was found that experimental ascites in dogs diminished or suppressed urine flow, apparently because of a simultaneous rise in pressure within the renal vein. The influence of similar procedures on the action of diuretic drugs has been investigated in 15 anesthetized dogs, with the uniform result that small doses of saline or xanthine diuretics were unable to cause diuresis until abdominal pressure was lowered. Larger doses of salines were usually effective against a suppressing abdominal pressure, while the xanthines were ineffective in any dose. Sodium sulfate was more effective than sodium chloride or bicarbonate.
The method seemed to be applicable to estimating the relative efficiency of diuretic drugs in the presence of a controllable degree of venous engorgement in the kidney, provided that the effects of experimental ascites on urine flow are due only to high pressure in the renal vein. By a perfusion experiment, using citrated blood, in which the kidney, its vessels, and the ureters were subjected to external hydrostatic pressure, it was found that an external pressure of 27.7 mm. of mercury caused suppression of urine when the renal vein was exposed to the pressure, but when the renal vein was protected from collapse by a glass catheter an external pressure of even 69 mm. had only slight effect on urine flow. It was clear that the phenomenon under observation was due largely, if not wholly, to the rise in venous pressure.
To estimate the relative efficiency of the drugs, the salines were injected in M/7 solution with an abdominal pressure just sufficient to suppress urine, the criteria being the extent of diuresis and the additional abdominal pressure required to suppress urine after the drug.
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