Roles of eating, rumination, and arterial pressure in determination of the circadian rhythm of renal blood flow in sheep.

To assess the roles of feeding behavior (eating and rumination) and systemic arterial pressure (SAP) on determination of the circadian rhythm of renal blood flow (RBF), 20 sheep fitted with ultrasonic flow-metering probes around both renal arteries and a submandibular balloon to monitor jaw movements (6 of them with a telemetry measurement system into the carotid artery for SAP recording), were successively assigned to 6 feeding patterns: once daily in the morning (0900 to 1100 h), afternoon (1700 to 1900 h), or evening (1900 to 2100 h); twice daily at 0900 to 1100 h and 1700 to 1900 h; ad libitum (food renewed each 2 h); and fasting (40 h). All protocols were carried out in autumn-winter, and the fasting pattern was repeated in spring-summer to evaluate the effect of the daylight length on RBF. In the once-daily feeding patterns, a rapid increase in RBF (P < 0.05 vs. 1-h prefeeding mean values) subsequent to the onset of meals was observed, followed by a progressive increase (P < 0.05), reaching a maximum 4 to 6 h after the beginning of eating, and a subsequent gradual decline until the next meal [differences vs. prefeeding values were no longer significant after 11 h (morning pattern), 13 h (afternoon pattern), and 15 h (evening pattern) from the beginning of eating]. In the twice-daily feeding pattern, each meal was also followed by an increase in RBF (P < 0.05 vs. prefeeding values), reaching a maximum 3 to 5 h after the onset of meals, and a posterior decline [differences vs. prefeeding values were no longer significant after 8 h (morning meal) and 5 h (afternoon meal) from the beginning of eating]. In the ad libitum feeding, no apparent rhythm in RBF was found. During fasting, a progressive reduction of RBF was observed from 2 h after the beginning of fasting (P < 0.05 vs. the mean value of the first fasting hour), with a slight rebound (P < 0.05) lasting several hours from approximately 0700 h in autumn-winter and approximately 0500 h in spring-summer. No change in the RBF profile was observed in association with rumination. Except during meals, no correlation was found between RBF and SAP. A detailed description of RBF and SAP recordings is presented. In conclusion, results showed a circadian rhythm of RBF determined by eating behavior, but not by rumination, that was independent of blood pressure and that seemed superimposed on a primary lighting-cycle-dependent RBF rhythm.