Adenine nucleotide changes in kidney, liver, and small intestine during different forms of ischemic injury. The purpose of this study was to better characterize renal adenine nucleotide pool responses to different forms of shock, contrast the changes to those found in other intra-abdominal organs (the liver and small intestine), and assess whether these changes are closely mimicked by those produced by renal arterial occlusion, the usual method used to study ischemic acute renal failure. Rats were subjected to hemorrhagic shock, septic shock, or cardiopulmonary shock of varying severities and durations. The liver consistently had the greatest energy depletion, followed by the kidney, and then the small intestine. However, only the kidney developed clear morphological damage (S3 brush border sloughing). Kidney adenylate pools were better preserved during septic shock and cardiopulmonary shock than during hemorrhagic shock despite comparable blood pressures. Only profound hemorrhagic shock (35-40 mm Hg for 25 minutes) decreased total adenylate pools (ATP + ADP + AMP). However, the degree of renal catabolite (nucleosides plus purine base) accumulation did not correlate with the amount of renal total adenine nucleotide depletion, partially because circulating catabolites contributed to intrarenal catabolite pools. Purine base/uric acid ratios differed among shocked organs, consistent with different degrees of xanthine oxidase activity (small intestine greater than liver greater than kidney). Renal morphological damage decreased during the immediate (0-30 minutes) postshock period, and the extent of this improvement was not altered by xanthine oxidase inhibition (oxypurinol), suggesting that the immediate postshock period is not one of serious oxidative injury. Shock, in comparison with renal arterial occlusion, caused only modest ATP loss/catabolite accumulation, very low purine base/uric acid ratios, and no immediate-reperfusion (0-30 minutes) resynthesis of the total adenylate pool. Thus, ischemia-induced renal adenylate changes may differ considerably, depending on the nature of the ischemic event. 