Cyst development in polycystic kidney disease is thought to be mediated through cAMP. Vasopressin is a major stimulus for cAMP production in the kidney. It is hypothesized that inhibition of V2 receptors in the kidney might delay the progression of polycystic kidney disease. In a large multicenter prospective trial, tolvaptan was able to reduce the increase in kidney size and slow progression of kidney failure over a 3-year follow-up period. In this trial, however, the tolvaptan group experienced a 9% incidence of abnormal liver function test results compared with 2% in the placebo group. This led to discontinuation of the drug in some patients.
A. Nephrogenic Diabetes Insipidus
If serum Na+ is not monitored closely, any ADH antagonist can cause severe hypernatremia and nephrogenic diabetes insipidus.
If lithium is being used for a psychiatric disorder, nephrogenic diabetes insipidus can be treated with a thiazide diuretic or amiloride (see Diabetes Insipidus, below).
B. Renal Failure
Both lithium and demeclocycline have been reported to cause acute renal failure. Long-term lithium therapy may also cause chronic interstitial nephritis.
C. Other
Dry mouth and thirst are common with many of these drugs. Tolvaptan may cause hypotension. Multiple adverse effects associated with lithium therapy have been found and are discussed in Chapter 29. Demeclocycline should be avoided in patients with liver disease (see Chapter 44) and in children younger than 12 years. Tolvaptan may also cause an elevation in liver function tests and is relatively contraindicated in patients with liver disease.
Medullary urine concentration depends in large part on urea movement in the kidney. Two families of urea transporters have been described. UT-A is present in inner medullary collecting duct cells and the thin descending limb of Henle. UT-B is present in the descending vasa recta and several extrarenal tissues. Inhibitors of both UT-A and UT-B (eg, PU-14) have been developed and are currently in preclinical studies. These agents are aquaretics that increase urea and water excretion but not sodium excretion. Urea transport inhibitors have been shown to blunt the increase in urine osmolality seen after desmopressin administration. These agents may prove to be useful in edematous states and even in SIADH; however, their potential clinical role as compared to that of vaptans remains to be established.
Some patients are refractory to the usual dose of loop diuretics or become refractory after an initial response. Since these agents have a short half-life (2–6 hours), refractoriness may be due to an excessive interval between doses. Renal Na+ retention may be greatly increased during the time period when the drug is no longer active. It was hoped that continuous loop diuretic infusions would be useful in treating patients with heart failure and diuretic resistance, but one high-quality study did not show a benefit for continuous loop diuretic infusion as opposed to bolus doses.
However, after the dosing interval for loop agents is minimized or the dose is maximized, the use of two drugs acting at different nephron sites may exhibit dramatic synergy. Loop agents and thiazides in combination often produce diuresis when neither agent acting alone is even minimally effective. There are several reasons for this phenomenon.
First, salt reabsorption in either the TAL or the DCT can increase when the other is blocked. Inhibition of both can therefore produce more than an additive diuretic response. Second, thiazide diuretics often produce a mild natriuresis in the proximal tubule that is usually masked by increased reabsorption in the TAL. The combination of loop diuretics and thiazides can therefore reduce Na+ reabsorption, to some extent, from all three segments.