Lecture 13: Pharmacology and Clinical Uses of Diuretics Flashcards
What is a diuretic?
A drug that increases urine volume
What is natriuresis?
Loss of Na+ only in the urine
What are the clinical uses of diuretics?
- salt excretion
- alteration of urinary K, Ca handling
- alteration in acid-base balance
- Treatment of HTN
- Shifting water between body compartments
What is the diuretic paradigm?
- Poison the ability of the tubules to reabsorb something (often sodium)
- increase excretion of that thing
- Increased osms in the urine leads to increased urinary volume
- perturb homeostasis
How much sodium is filtered daily in an individual with a GFR of 100 ml/min and a sodium concentration of 140 meq/L?
463,680 mg/day or 20,160 mEq/day
100 ml/min = 144,000 ml/day = 144 L/day
144 L/day * 140 mEq/L = 20,160 mEq/day
20,160 * 23 mg/mEq = 463680 mg/day
A medical student consumes a diet of 3000 mg of sodium daily. His weight is stable. What is his daily sodium excretion? What happens if you partially inhibit kidney’s ability to reabsorb sodium?
3000 mg
He will excrete more than 3000 mg of sodium, weight will decrease, TBW will decrease and ECF will decrease (all of the above)
What are the 6 classes of diuretics?
- Carbonic Anhydrase Inhibitors (proximal tubule)
- Loop diuretics (LoH)
- Thiazide diuretics (DCT)
- Potassium sparing diuretics (collecting duct)
- Osmotic diuretics (everywhere)
- Antidiuretic antagonists (collecting duct)
What mechanism do most diuretics depend upon to exert its pharmacological influence?
SECRETION, and not filtration…diuretics don’t get filtrated in the GFR because they are bound to large proteins
How do most diuretics get delivered to the site of action?
- diuretics are protein bound and are therefore concentrated in the plasma that is not part of ultrafiltrate
- Travel in blood through peritubular capillaries to the cell of action and require renal blood flow (RBF) for delivery
- Require secretion by active movement into the target cell through specialized transporters
- therefore dependent on tubular secretion rather than GFR
What are the receptors located on the apical membrane of the proximal tubule that pertain to salt reabsorption?
- Na/glucose symporter
- Na/amino acid symporter
- Na/H+ antiport
What are the key characteristics of carbonic anhydrase inhibitors?
Act at the proximal tubule
Blocks carbonic anhydrase, thereby inhibiting 85% of HCO3- absorption that occurs in proximal tubule
Does NOT promote natriuresis since distal sodium reabsorption sites compensate
Also will decrease water reabsorption (because water gets absorbed with CO2 after H2CO3 is broken by apical carbonic anhydrase)
If HCO3- is delivered to the distal nephron, what will happen to potassium?
Potassium secretion will increase (because of ROMK channel in principal cell)
-more negative charges in lumen (bicarb), the more K is secreted in prinicipal cell
What are the clinical uses of carbonic anhydrase?
Don’t use as a natriuretic agent
- Correction of metabolic alkalosis (since you have increased urinary loss of HCO3- as a result of a dysfunctional Carbonic anhydrase that won’t bicarb reaction to occur)
- Altitude sickness
- Glaucoma
- last ditch effort to fix hyperkalemia
What are the downsides of using carbonic anhydrase inhibitors?
Most of the excess fluid delivered out of prox tubule is reclaimed distally
Ineffective natriuretic agent
Thus clinical use centers on non-natriuretic properties
Can also lead to potassium wasting! (as seen from question above)
What are the key characteristics of loop diuretics?
Act at the thick ascending limb of the LoH (ThickAscendingLimb, TAL)
Blocks NKCC2 symporter
Example: Furosemide (Lasix)
Since you need NKCC2 in order for apical ROMK to work (and create a positive electric gradient), blocking NKCC2 will destroy positive electric gradient
Thus, TAL can no longer reabsorb Na, Ca and Mg!!!
So leads to calcium, magnesium and Na wasting
What are examples of loop diuretics?
Furosemide
Bumetanide
Torsemide
Ethacrynic Acid
What are clinical uses of loop diuretics?
- Correction of pathophysiological states of Na retention and intravascular volume overload (edematous disorders) such as
i. CHF
ii. pulm edema
iii. nephrotic syndrome
iv. renal failure - Correction of hyperkalemia
- Correction of hypercalcemia
What are the side effects of loop diuretics?
- Hypokalemia
- Hypocalcemia or hypercalciuria
- Hypomagnesemia
- Hyperuricemia which leads to gout
- Ototoxicity, reversible
- worse with ethacrynic acid
- Sulfa allergy
- but not with ethacrynic acid (non-sulfa loop)
What is one structural component that all loop diuretics share? Significance?
They all have a sulfa moiety
Thus can induce sulfa allergy
Significance: That’s why there is a need to use the more toxic ethacrynic acid in cases of severe sulfa allergy, since ethacrynic acid doesn’t have a sulfa moiety