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The present study determined whether vasopressin (VP) secretion is inhibited by an oropharyngeal signal associated with swallowing fluids when dehydrated rats drink water, as it is when dehydrated dogs are used as experimental subjects (Thrasher, TN, Keil LC, and Ramsay DJ. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol 253: R509-R515, 1987). VP levels in systemic plasma (pVP) fell rapidly when rats drank water after overnight water deprivation. Systemic plasma Na+ concentration (pNa) also fell, but that change likely contributed little to the early inhibition of VP secretion. In contrast, consumption of water by dehydrated rats with an open gastric fistula had no effect on pVP, nor did consumption of isotonic saline by dehydrated rats; in neither case was pNa affected by fluid consumption. These findings provide no evidence that the act of drinking inhibits VP secretion in dehydrated rats. Thus some post-gastric effect of the ingested water seems to be responsible for the inhibitory signal. These results are consistent with previous suggestions that an early inhibitory stimulus for VP secretion in rats is provided by post-gastric visceral osmo- or Na+ receptors that sense the composition of the ingested fluid.

The present experiments sought to identify the physiological signals that inhibit thirst when dehydrated rats drink water or NaCl solution. Rats were deprived of drinking fluid but not food overnight. When allowed to drink again, the dehydrated animals consumed water or saline (0.05 M, 0.10 M, 0.15 M, or 0.20 M NaCl solution) almost continuously for 5-8 min before stopping. The volumes consumed were similar regardless of which fluid they ingested, but blood analyses indicated that increased plasma osmolality and decreased plasma volume, or both, still remained when drinking terminated. These results suggest that the composition of the ingested fluid is less significant than its volume in providing an early signal that inhibits thirst and fluid consumption by dehydrated rats. Analyses of the gastrointestinal tracts revealed that the cumulative volume in the stomach and small intestine correlated highly with the amount consumed regardless of which fluid was ingested. These and other results suggest that the volume of fluid ingested by dehydrated rats is sensed by stretch receptors detecting distension of the stomach and small intestine, which provide an early inhibitory stimulus of thirst. dehydration; gastrointestinal distension; visceral osmoreceptors; water deprivation WATER DEPRIVATION ELICITS thirst and secretion of neurohypophyseal vasopressin (VP), the antidiuretic hormone, in rats and other animals (31). When dehydrated animals drink water, both responses are inhibited before systemic rehydration is evident. In dogs and human subjects, the early signal that inhibits thirst and VP secretion has been related to the volume of fluid consumed, apparently detected by oropharyngeal receptors that monitor the swallowing of liquids regardless of whether water, isotonic saline, or hypertonic saline solution is consumed (2,13,24,32). However, recent experiments indicate that early inhibition of VP secretion in rats is not mediated by oropharyngeal receptors (17, 29) because plasma VP levels (pVP) were not affected either when dehydrated rats ingested isotonic saline or when water was consumed but drained from the stomach through an open gastric fistula (29). In contrast, water ingested normally by thirsty rats initiated a rapid decline in pVP that began while systemic plasma Na ϩ concentrations (pNa) still were elevated (17, 29), suggesting that the inhibitory effect was not mediated by cerebral osmoreceptors but by a potent presystemic stimulus, related to the composition of ingested fluid, which might arise from osmoreceptors or Na ϩ receptors in the viscera (4, 19). Furthermore, the signal that terminated an initial bout of water consumption occurred a few minutes later, in association with a reduction of systemic pNa but continued plasma volume deficits (29). Because the intake of isotonic saline also ceased after similar volumes were consumed, without any associated change in pNa (29), these observations allow the hypothesis that thirst in rats is inhibited by signals related to the volume of ingested fluid rath...

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Marked increases in the consumption of concentrated NaCl solution were elicited in rats by daily injection of the synthetic mineralocorticoid, deoxycorticosterone acetate (DOCA). DOCA-treated rats drank different volumes of NaCl solution depending on its concentration (between 0.15 M and 0.50 M), with less consumed (in milliliters) the more concentrated the fluid was. In consequence, total Na(+) intake (in milliequivalents) was roughly similar in all groups. Gastric emptying of Na(+) also diminished as the concentration of the ingested NaCl solution increased, and the delivery of Na(+) to the small intestine was remarkably similar in all groups. Cumulative volume of ingested fluid in the stomach and small intestine was very closely related to intake (in milliliters) of the concentrated NaCl solutions. Systemic plasma Na(+) levels did not increase until after rats stopped consuming concentrated NaCl solution, although they were elevated at the onset of water ingestion. The situation appeared to be different when 0.15 M NaCl was consumed. This isotonic solution emptied and was absorbed relatively rapidly, and DOCA-treated rats drank larger amounts of it throughout a 1-h test period than when they drank concentrated NaCl solutions. Collectively, these findings suggest that saline consumption by DOCA-treated rats may be inhibited by two presystemic factors, one related to the volume of ingested fluid (i.e., distension of the stomach and small intestine) and one related to its concentration (i.e., elevated osmolality of fluid in the small intestine and/or in adjacent visceral tissue).