A B S T R A C T Our previous studies (1974. J. Clin. suggested that impaired metabolism ofcyclic AMP (cAMP) may be involved in the renal unresponsiveness to vasopressin (VP) in mice with hereditary nephrogenic diabetes insipidus (NDI). To localize such a defect to specific segments of the nephron, we studied the activities of VP-sensitive adenylate cyclase, cAMP phosphodiesterase (cAMP-PDIE), as well as accumulation of cAMP in medullary collecting tubules (MCT) The results of the present in vitro experiments suggest that the functional unresponsiveness of NDI mice to VP is perhaps mainly the result of the inability of collecting tubules to increase intracellular cAMP levels in response to VP. In turn, this inability to increase cAMP in response to VP is at least partly the result of abnormally high activity of cAMP-PDIE, a somewhat lower activity of VP-sensitive adenylate cyclase in MCT of NDI mice, and perhaps to a deficiency of some other as yet unidentified factors. The possible contribution of low VP-sensitive adenylate cyclase activity in MAL of NDI mice to the renal resistance to VP remains to be defined.
INTRODUCTIONOne animal model that phenotypically closely resembles human hereditary nephrogenic diabetes insipidus (NDI)l is a strain of mouse (so-called DI +/+ severe) with an inherited, vasopressin (VP)-resistant urinary concentrating defect (1)(2)(3)(4). Because administration of VP to NDI mice fails to increase osmolality of hypotonic urine (2, 3), these functional features indicate that collecting tubules failed to increase water permeability in response to the hormone. It is well established that the hydroosmotic effect of VP in collecting tubules (5-8) is mediated by adenosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate (cAMP) (5-7), and we have previously investigated the possibility that unresponsiveness to VP in NDI mice might be the