Functional correlates of compensatory renal hypertrophy

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Abstract

The functional correlates of compensatory renal hypertrophy were studied by micropuncture techniques in rats after the removal of one kidney. The glomerular filtration rate increased to roughly the same extent in the whole kidney and in individual surface nephrons, resulting in a greater amount of sodium delivered to the tubules for reabsorption. The fraction of the glomerular filtrate absorbed [determined from the tubular fluid-to-plasma ratio (TF/P) for inulin] remained unchanged in both proximal and distal portions of the nephron. The way in which the tubules adjusted to nephrectomy, however, differed in proximal and distal convolutions. After nephrectomy, the reabsorptive half-time, indicated by the rate of shrinkage of a droplet of saline in a tubule blocked with oil, was unchanged in the proximal tubule but significantly shortened in the distal convoluted tubule. Nevertheless, steady-state concentrations of sodium in an isolated raffinose droplet in the distal as well as the proximal tubule were the same in hypertrophied kidneys as in control animals. Possible reasons for this paradox are discussed.

Authors

John P. Hayslett, Michael Kashgarian, Franklin H. Epstein