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Several experiments tested whether the subfornical organ (SFO) is necessary for water or NaCl intake arising from angiotensin-converting enzyme (CE) blockade with captopril (CAP) in the drinking fluids (0.1 mg/ml). Peripheral CAP was given to rats acutely following 24-h water deprivation or chronically over several days, either with water alone available for drinking or with 0.3 M NaCl in choice with water. Control rats drank more water, and NaCl when it was available, during CAP treatment, whereas rats with SFO damage increased NaCl intake only. CAP decreased urinary volume (UV) and increased urinary potassium excretion (UKV) during rehydration with only water available and increased urinary sodium excretion (UNaV) with NaCl present. Regardless of CAP treatment, rats with SFO damage had increased electrolyte concentrations and excretions during rehydration with only water available and increased UK with NaCl present, compared with controls. Oral CAP did not have an aversive taste at the dose used here. We conclude that the SFO is necessary for CAP-enhanced water, but not NaCl, intake and suggest that different neurological mechanisms control ingestion of each fluid during CAP.

The subfornical organ (SFO) and surrounding periventricular tissue were ablated in sheep. Such a lesion did not significantly reduce water drinking in response to intracarotid, intravenous, or intracerebroventricular infusions of [Val5]angiotensin II amide (ANG II) but caused reduced intake of water in response to intracarotid infusion of hypertonic saline. The dipsogenic response of these sheep to water deprivation for 3 days was similar to that of normal sheep subjected to water deprivation. Although the results are not conclusive in excluding the SFO from having a role in ANG II-induced drinking, they show that there are receptors outside the SFO sensitive to blood-borne ANG II that are involved in water drinking in sheep. The results also show that tissue in the SFO or its surroundings may be involved in drinking caused by acute hypertonicity.

We investigated whether the increased intake of water during dietary electrolyte depletion is related to activation of the renin-angiotensin system. Young adult male rats were fed a low Na-, Cl-, K-free (low-salt) diet for 2 wk during which measurements were made of daily water intake and urine volume, plasma osmolality (Posm) and electrolytes, and plasma renin activity (PRA) and angiotensin I (ANG I) concentration. Water intake and urine output increased on day 3 of the low-salt diet, reached a maximum on day 4, and remained elevated, paralleling the time course of increases in PRA and ANG I plasma concentrations. Posm was normal after 2 days on the low-salt, although it was significantly lower by day 11. Renal concentrating ability was not different from controls after 6 days, but was significantly reduced after 11 days of treatment. Electrolytic lesions of the subfornical organ (SFO) abolished the low-salt diet-induced polydipsia, but had no effect on the diet-induced increases in PRA and plasma ANG I concentration. These data demonstrate that polydipsia induced by feeding a low-salt diet can develop in the presence of a normal or reduced Posm and precedes the development of a renal concentrating defect. The primary polydipsia is associated with elevated PRA and ANG I and appears to be mediated by angiotensin receptors in the SFO.