Background Vasoactive drugs are often necessary for reversing hypotension in patients with severe infection. The standard for evaluating effects of vasoactive drugs should not only be based on the increase of arterial blood pressure,but also on the blood flow perfusion of internal organs. The effects of dopamine and metaraminol on the renal function of the patients with septic shock were investigated retrospectively in this study.Methods Ninety-eight patients with septic shock were divided into three groups according to the highest infusing rate of metaraminol, with the lightest infusing rate of (0.1-0.5, 0.6-1.0, ＞1.0) μg · kg-1 · min-1 in group A, B and C respectively.Urine output, mean arterial blood pressure (MAP), heart rate (HR), urine output, blood urea nitrogen (BUN), creatinine (CRE), urine albumin (U-ALB), urine β2-microglubulin (Uβ2-MG) and Apache Ⅲ scores were recorded.Results Before antishock therapy, hypotension, tachycardia and oliguria occurred to all the 98 patients with septic shock and CRE, BUN, U-ALB, Uβ2-MG and Apache Ⅲ scoring were abnormal in most cases. With the antishock therapy,MAP, HR, urine output, BUN and CRE in all patients returned gradually to normal (P＜0.05 or ＜0.01 compared to those before antishock therapy). U-ALB, Uβ2-MG output and Apache Ⅲ scoring also reverted but remained abnormal (P＜0.01 compared to those before antishock therapy). No statistically significant differences in the changes of these indices with the time existed among the three groups (P＞0.05).Conclusion Dopamine and metaraminol when applied to the patients with septic shock could effectively maintain the circulatory stability and promote restoration of renal function.