The purpose of this study was to determine the specific renal microvascular segments that are functionally responsive to angiotensin II (ANG II) and other vasoactive hormones. Experiments were performed on juxtamedullary tissue from captopril-treated rats during perfusion with blood at a constant pressure of 110 mmHg. Epifluorescence videomicroscopy was utilized to measure diameters of arcuate and interlobular arteries (ART), mid- (MA) and late- (LA) afferent arterioles, and efferent arterioles (EA). Norepinephrine (700 nM) significantly decreased, and sodium nitroprusside (380 nM) increased, inside diameters of all segments. Topical application of ANG II (0.01 to 1 nM) induced significant reductions in diameters of all vessel segments: ART, 17.5 +/- 2.0%; MA, 19.6 +/- 2.5%; LA, 13.5 +/- 1.5%; and EA, 16.9 +/- 2.7%. The preglomerular response to ANG II was blocked by saralasin (10 microM) and, in most cases, was dose dependent; however, an initial hypersensitivity to low ANG II doses (30% decrease in diameter) was exhibited by 38% of the preglomerular vessels studied. Under these experimental conditions, single-nephron glomerular filtration rate decreased significantly in response to 0.01 nM ANG II exposure. These observations demonstrate that physiological concentrations of ANG II can elicit receptor-dependent and reversible vasoconstriction of the juxtamedullary nephron microvasculature at both pre- and postglomerular sites.