Relation between renal interstitial ATP concentrations and autoregulation-mediated changes in renal vascular resistance

The present study was performed to examine the hypothesis that autoregulation-related changes in renal vascular resistance (RVR) are mediated by extracellular ATP. By use of a microdialysis method, renal interstitial concentrations of ATP and adenosine were measured at different renal arterial pressures (RAPs) within the autoregulatory range in anesthetized dogs (n=12). RAP was reduced in steps from the ambient pressure (131+/-4 mm Hg) to 105+/-3 mm Hg (step 1) and 80+/-2 mm Hg (step 2). Renal blood flow and glomerular filtration rate exhibited efficient autoregulation in response to these changes in RAP. RVR decreased by 22+/-2% in step 1 (P<0.01) and 38+/-3% in step 2 (P<0.01). The control renal interstitial concentration of ATP was 6.51+/-0.71 nmol/L and decreased to 4. 51+/-0.55 nmol/L in step 1 (P<0.01) and 2.77+/-0.47 nmol/L in step 2 (P<0.01). In contrast, the adenosine concentrations (117+/-6 nmol/L) were not altered significantly. Changes in ATP levels were highly correlated with changes in RVR (r=0.88, P<0.0001). Further studies demonstrated that stimulation of the tubuloglomerular feedback (TGF) mechanism by increasing distal volume delivery elicited with acetazolamide also led to increases in renal interstitial ATP concentrations, whereas furosemide, which is known to block TGF responses, reduced renal interstitial fluid ATP concentrations. The data demonstrate a positive relation between renal interstitial fluid ATP concentrations and both autoregulation- and TGF-dependent changes in RVR and thus support the hypothesis that changes in extracellular ATP contribute to the RVR adjustments responsible for the mechanism of renal autoregulation.