Mechanisms of the renal vasodilation caused by insulin in anesthetized pigs

The present study was planned to determine the mechanisms involved in the renal vasodilation caused by insulin. Changes in flow caused by the intravenous infusion of 0.004 IU/kg/min of insulin at constant heart rate, aortic blood pressure, left ventricular contractility and blood levels of glucose and potassium in the left renal artery were assessed using an electromagnetic flowmeter. In ten pigs, infusion of insulin caused an increase in renal blood flow which averaged 12.8% of the control values. After hemodynamic variables had returned to control values, insulin infusion was repeated in five pigs following blockade of alpha-adrenergic receptors with injection of phentolamine into the renal artery and in the other five pigs following blockade of nitric oxide formation with injection in the same artery of Nomega-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME). After blockade of alpha-adrenergic receptors, insulin infusion caused an increase in renal blood flow which averaged 18.1% of the control values, being significantly enhanced with respect to the increase previously obtained in the same pigs. On the contrary, after blockade of nitric oxide formation insulin infusion caused a decrease in renal blood flow which averaged 6.5% of the control values. These responses were respectively abolished by the subsequent injection into the renal artery of L-NAME and phentolamine. The present study showed that the renal vasodilation caused by insulin in the anesthetized pig was the result of two opposite effects which involved a predominant vasodilation mediated by the release of nitric oxide from the endothelium and a sympathetic vasoconstrictor mechanism mediated by alpha-adrenergic receptors.