Relation of saluretic and hypotensive effects of hydrochlorothiazide in the rat

¹ Department of Anatomy, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada

Hydrochlorothiazide causes a marked loss of Na and of water in both fully alimented rats and in rats deprived of food and/or water. The increased urinary volume corresponds closely to the shrinkage of the extracellular fluid volume (inulin space) but the decrease in extracellular Na is not sufficient to account for the Na excretion, suggesting that Na is withdrawn from cells and perhaps bone stores as well. The fall in blood pressure in hypertensive rats is not due to simple shrinkage of the extracellular space and plasma volume, but can be referred to the rise in Na gradient induced by withdrawal of cell sodium.