OBSERVATIONS CONCERNING THE ORIGIN OF RENAL LYMPH

Abstract

The glucose and inulin contents of renal and cervical lymph were detd. and compared. The glucose conc. of renal lymph was almost as high as that of cervical lymph, the latter being almost identical with that of blood plasma. Thus it was concluded that renal lymph is not derived exclusively from the relatively sugar-free fluid contained in the larger collecting ducts of the kidney. This, despite the high urea conc. of renal lymph, reported in a previous study, which suggested that the renal lymphatics drained chiefly the larger renal collecting ducts whose fluid is supposedly high in urea. Unlike the similarity in the glucose values of renal and cervical lymph samples, a marked difference was found in the inulin content (during the intraven. infusion of inulin) of these 2 types of lymph. Whereas cervical lymph had an inulin content of 94% of that in blood plasma, renal lymph had an inulin content of only 68% of that found in blood plasma. In view of the fact that renal lymph does contain considerable inulin. but at a considerably lower conc. than that found in cervical lymph, it is concluded that the composition of. renal lymph is detd. by the character of both tubular reabsorbed fluid and the renal blood plasma.