--- - |2+ Key points The development of new effective methods of treating arterial hypertension is hindered by uncertainty regarding its causes. According to one widespread concept hypertension is caused by abnormal blood circulation in the kidney, specifically by reduction of blood flow through the kidney medulla; however, this causal relationship has never been rigorously verified. We investigated whether in rats with three different forms of experimental hypertension prolonged selective elevation of renal medullary blood flow using local infusion of the vasodilator bradykinin would lower arterial pressure. We found that increasing medullary blood flow by almost 50% did not result in alleviation of hypertension, which argues against a causal role of such changes in the control of arterial pressure and suggests that attempts at improving renal medullary circulation are not likely to be a promising approach to combating hypertension. Abstract The crucial role of renal medullary blood flow (MBF) in the control of arterial pressure (MAP) has been widely accepted but not rigorously verified. We examined the effects of experimental selective MBF elevation on MAP, medullary tissue hypertonicity and renal excretion in hypertensive rats. We used three hypertensive rat models: (1) rats with hypertension induced by chronic angiotensin II infusions (AngII model), (2) rats with hypertension induced by unilateral nephrectomy followed by high salt diet (HS/UNX), and (3) spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR). In acute experiments, MBF (laser‐Doppler measurement) was selectively increased with an intramedullary infusion of bradykinin (Bk) at 0.27 mg h−1 kg−1 BW over 4 h. MAP, renal artery blood flow (Transonic probe) and renal excretion parameters were measured simultaneously. In chronic studies with AngII and HS/UNX rats, Bk was infused over 2 weeks and MAP (telemetry probe) and renal excretion were repeatedly determined. In acute studies, with AngII, SHR and HS/UNX groups, Bk infusion caused a 47% increase in MBF (P < 0.01–0.001), whereas solvent infusion was without effect. During the experiments MAP decreased slightly and to the same extent with Bk and solvent infusion. Medullary tissue osmolality and [Na+] were lower in Bk‐ than in solvent‐infused AngII rats and in SHR. Two weeks of intramedullary Bk infusion tested in AngII and HS/UNX rats did not alter MAP or renal excretion; though in the latter group a significant MBF increase and medullary hypertonicity decrease was observed. Since no decrease in MAP in hypertensive rats was seen with Bk‐induced major renal medullary hyperperfusion or with a wash‐out of medullary solutes, our data argue against a crucial role of MBF in the pathogenesis of arterial hypertension. - 'The Journal of Physiology, EarlyView. '