Changes in cardiovascular and adrenal cortical responses to angiotensin III induced by sodium deprivation in the rat.

The restriction of dietary sodium intake is known to depress the cardiovascular responses to angiotensin II and increase the sensitivity of the adrenal zona glomerulosa to this steroidogenic octapeptide. In sodium-repleted animals, angiotensin III is a weak pressor substance and a potent stimulant of aldosterone biosynthesis. The effect of a low sodium diet on vascular and steroidogenic responses to angiotensin II and angiotensin III was investigated. In nephrectomized rats, angiotensin III had one-third of the pressor activity relative to angiotensin II when either normal or sodium-deprived animals were compared. When administered subcutaneously (sc) to rats, angiotensin II and III induced comparable steroidogenic responses, whereas only angiotensin II significantly elevated blood pressure. The comparison of cell suspensions from control adrenals with suspensions of adrenals from sodium-deprived animals showed that the zona glomerulosa from rats on low sodium diets had increased wet weight (20%), cell protein (25%), and basal steroidogenic rats (45%). Adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH)-induced responses in adrenal cells from low sodium animals were about twice the responses of cells from normal adrenals. Angiotensin II and III stimulated the cortex at a threshold concentration of 5 X 10(-10) M and induced a maximum response at about 5 X 10(-8) M in cells prepared from normal rat adrenals. In cells dispersed from adrenal capsules of sodium-deprived rats, the maximal steroidogenic response to angiotensin II occurred at 3 X 10(-8) M, whereas angiotensin III was maximal at 1 X 10(-9) M. Aldosterone synthesis induced by both peptides was increased approximately 45% in adrenal cells from low salt rats. At 0.9 mumol/kg, sc, Sar-1, Ile-8-angiotensin II antagonized cardiovascular responses to angiotensin II and did not alter aldosterone in the sodium-deprived rat. In contrast, treatment with Ile-7-angiotensin III blocked the adrenal cortex but not the vascular actions of angiotensin II. These data are consistent with a role for angiotensin III in the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone response to sodium deprivation.