Electrolyte excretion and free-water production during onset of acute diuresis

The concentration of major urinary solutes was studied in ureteral urine collected at 15- to 30-s intervals at the onset of acute diuresis induced in anesthetized dogs either by high-ceiling diuretics (mainly ethacrynic acid) or by osmotic diuretics. Phosphate/inulin clearance ratios remained unchanged; potassium/inulin clearance ratios rose rapidly. Principal attention is given to the mechanisms underlying a transient rise in urinary sodium and chloride concentrations during the onset of diuresis. When the data are corrected for washout artifacts from the pelvis and ureter, it can be shown that the initial collection periods are associated with a transient increase in free-water production and by the simultaneous secretion of urea from the interstitium into the tubular fluid. The former coincides in time with the rise in urinary chloride concentration and represents an augmentation of water reabsorbed in the collecting duct, which is relatively impermeable to chloride. Both responses are quantitatively consistent with the transition from a hyperosmotic to isosmotic medullary interstitium.