Effect of aldosterone antagonists on mineralocorticoid synthesis in vitro. Inhibition of aldosterone production by prorenoate-K.

A perifusion technique using frog adrenal glands has been applied to investigate the effects of long-term administration of a new aldosterone antagonist (potassium prorenoate; SC 23992) on mineralocorticoid production. Whatever the duration of administration of potassium prorenoate, at a constant concentration of 5 X 10(-4) M, a significant inhibition of aldosterone output occurred during the passage of the compound. The inhibition was immediate (lag period less than 10 min); the amplitude of the inhibition was constant during the whole experiment and ranged from 77 to 89%; the aldosterone output returned to a regular basal value 80-100 min after the end of infusion of potassium prorenoate. We have also investigated the effect of a concentration gradient of potassium prorenoate (similar to the concentration gradient of aldosterone antagonist observed in plasma after a single oral administration of the molecule) upon aldosterone production over 12 h. From this study, we have established the existence of a highly significant correlation between the extent of the inhibition of aldosterone production and the concentration of the aldosterone antagonist. Finally we have observed that potassium prorenoate blocked the stimulation of aldosterone secretion induced by synthetic ACTH and significantly reduced the angiotensin-induced aldosterone stimulation. The present results indicate that, besides the well-known competitive inhibition of aldosterone binding exerted by potassium prorenoate at the renal receptor site, a direct inhibition of aldosterone biosynthesis also accounts for the pharmacological activity of this aldosterone antagonist.