Naloxone reduces diuretic responses induced by water, alcohol or congenital lack of vasopressin in rats.

The effects of naloxone (2 and 10 mg kg-1 s.c.) were compared in several kinds of experimental polyuria: alcohol- or water-loaded rats and Brattleboro rats (i.e. animals with congenital lack of vasopressin). In normal rats, both water and alcohol increased urine flow and decreased urinary osmolality. Alcohol induced a more marked diuretic response than water. In normally hydrated rats, naloxone (2 and 10 mg kg-1 s.c.) failed to modify urine flow, urinary osmolality, Na+ and K+ urinary excretion, and urine creatinine concentration. The two doses of naloxone decreased urine flow and increased osmolality in both water- and alcohol-loaded rats. In Brattleboro rats, naloxone (10 mg kg-1 s.c.) reduced urine flow and urinary creatine whereas the low dose (2 mg kg-1 s.c.) was without effect. Since it is well known that the mechanism of water- or alcohol-induced diuresis is an inhibition of vasopressin release, the present results suggest that naloxone could prevent this inhibition. They indicate that endogenous opioid peptides may exert an inhibitory control on vasopressin release.