To study the hemodynamic and renal effects of the orally (p. o.) active dopamine (DA) agonist ibopamine, we examined 10 patients with mild to moderate congestive heart failure (CHF), who were stable while treated with digoxin and diuretics. All patients were in New York Heart Association (NYHA) functional class II-III; their mean age was 63 years (range 51-79 years), and mean left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) was 28% (range 18-36%). The protocol consisted of a control study-day with measurements of renal characteristics including glomerular filtration rate (GFR), effective renal plasma flow (ERPF), and filtration fraction (FF). One week later, systemic and renal hemodynamics were measured simultaneously before and after patients received one 100-mg tablet of ibopamine. Ibopamine caused a slight but significant increase in both ERPF (from 288 +/- 32 ml/min/1.73 m2 at baseline to 316 +/- 32 ml/min/1.73 m2 after ibopamine) and GFR (from 77 +/- 8 to 85 +/- 8 ml/min/1.73 m2; both p < 0.05); FF was not affected (mean value 0.26 +/- 0.02). Sodium excretion was not influenced by ibopamine, but diuresis increased significantly. Cardiac output (CO) increased significantly (from 4.0 +/- 0.4 L/min at baseline to a maximum of 5.0 L/min after ibopamine, p < 0.05), mainly due to decreased systemic vascular resistance (SVR). Heart rate (HR) and blood pressure (BP) were unchanged throughout the studies. The percentage of contribution of CO to renal blood flow (RBF) was not significantly affected by ibopamine.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)