The present study examined whether the renal sympathetic nerves contribute to the renal excretory responses produced by kappa opioid receptor agonist administration in conscious spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR). Intravenous infusion of the kappa opioid receptor agonists, ketocyclazocine (KC) and U-50488H, produced increases in urine flow rate. KC and U-50488H infusion also resulted in a marked and sustained antinatriuresis which was promptly reversed by low-dose naloxone (50 micrograms/kg i.v.), thus suggesting an opioid receptor-mediated action of both agonists. Although these kappa agonists did not produce changes in glomerular filtration rate or renal plasma flow, efferent renal sympathetic nerve activity increased with the same time course as the antinatriuretic response. To investigate whether the decrease in urinary sodium excretion was mediated via the increase in efferent renal sympathetic nerve activity, experiments were repeated in SHR with prior bilateral renal denervation. These studies demonstrated that similar renal excretory responses (diuresis and a naloxone reversible antiinatriuresis occurred during infusion of KC and U-50488H in renal denervated as were seen in intact SHR. These studies indicate that the renal excretory responses to the kappa opioid agonists KC and U-50488H are not mediated through changes in renal hemodynamics or via a pathway requiring intact renal innervation. Because an antinatriuretic response was observed in renal denervated SHR, this suggests that kappa opioid receptor agonists may influence the renal tubular reabsorption of sodium by additional naloxone-sensitive mechanisms independent of intact renal innervation.