AN ANTIDIURETIC SUBSTANCE IN THE BLOOD OF NORMAL AND ADRENALECTOMIZED RATS1,2

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Abstract
Normal rat blood serum contains a substance(s) with the following properties: It is antidiuretic, chloruretic, inactivated by standing, and more active by intraperit. than subcut. injn.; it is not dependent on ether anesthesia for its presence and is inactivated by neutralized thioglycollic acid. It exerts its antidiuretic action by causing an increased renal tubular reabsorption of water despite causing a transient rise in the glomerular filtration rate. Its effects are not duplicated by foreign proteins. It is not present in the blood of hypophysectomized rats and in all respects tested its actions are like those of posterior pituitary extract. Its pituitary origin is suggested but not regarded as established. There is evidence that a similar substance is present in the blood of other species but perhaps in lower concn. The substance accumulates after adrenalectomy, and this fact plus the demonstrated hyper-sensitivity to antidiuretic agents helps to explain the absence of normal water diuresis after adrenalectomy. The accumulation of the antidiuretic substance after adrenalectomy is readily prevented by replacement therapy with saline, DCA or adrenal cortical extract. Over-dosage with cortical hormones, however, does not reduce the amts. present in the blood of normal rats. A method (modified from Heller and Urban) is described for tests of antidiuretic substances.

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