Figure 2. Intrarenal perfusion responses to renal artery infusion of bradykinin.

Bradykinin was infused into the left renal artery (0.3 mg kg⁻¹ min⁻¹) of rats that were either untreated (top, n= 19), pre-treated with l-NAME (middle, n= 6), or with l-NAME combined with renal arterial infusion of sodium nitropruside (SNP, bottom, n= 10–12). Means (%) ±s.e.m. The striped, black and open columns refer to the initial phase of Bk infusion, the final level established during the infusion, and the recovery level after Bk has been withdrawn, respectively. l-NAME was given i.v. as a bolus of 0.6 mg kg⁻¹, followed by infusion at 2.4 mg kg⁻¹ h⁻¹. SNP was given at 0.6 mg kg⁻¹ h⁻¹ into the renal artery. In the l-NAME + SNP group, CBF measurements had to be discarded because of technical problems. Denotations as in Fig. 1. *Significantly higher than pre-bradykinin baseline as tested by paired Student's t test.