Angiotensin-induced drinking in rats with hereditary hypothalamic diabetes insipidus.

Previous reports indicate that the pressor response seen following intracranially applied angiotensin II (AII) in normal rats is absent in hereditary hypothalamic diabetes insipidus (DI) animals. The dipsogenic effect of intracranially injected AII was therefore examined in DI rats and in control rats. Our results show that the drinking response to AII was present in DI animals and not different from control rats. Substitution of DI animals with vasopressin had no effect on the drinking response to AII. We conclude that it is possible to dissociate brain mechanisms mediating the centrally induced blood pressure response and the drinking response.