[Origin, nature, role and fate of prostaglandins liberated during the expansion of intravascular space in the anesthetized rat]

In experiments in which blood was cross-circulating in rats, the blood pressure of the recipient dropped while that of the donor rose, following the increase of the circulating blood volume, produced by infusion either of saline or blood. The phenomenon was almost imperceptible when binephrectomized animals were used. In experiments in which the blood-bathed organ technique was used, prostaglandin-like substances were detected, released during the rise of the blood pressure, produced by the same stimulus (the expansion), in anaesthetized rats. A significant difference was found between the prostaglandin-like substances detected using the blood-bathed organ technique, in normal rats (5.387 ng per ml of blood plus or minus 0.288 = SEM) and those detected in binephrectomized rats (3.202 ng per ml of blood plus or minus 0.330, p smaller than 0.025). The biologically active substances detected in 25 ml of blood collected during expansion, while the assay organs showed a prostaglandin-like activity, were found to have the chromatographic behaviour and the bioassay properties of PGA, PGE and PGF series. A great quantity of the biologically active substances, having the chromatographic behaviour and the bioassay properties of PGA, PGS and PGF was detected in the rat renal medulla. Sufficient quantities of the released prostaglandin-like substances could escape the pulmonary vascular bed in this species of animal. It was concluded that a great quantity of the released prostaglandin-like substances came from the kidney and their release by this particular mechanism suggested that they play an important homeostatic role on the blood pressure, blood volume, and sodium and water balance regulation.