Recovery of Glomerular and Tubular Function, Including p-Aminohippurate Extraction, Following Two Hours of Renal Artery Occlusion in the Dog

Abstract

Serial measurements were made of clearances of creatinine, urea and p-aminohippurate, of TmPAH. and of renal extraction of PAH in dogs in which the renal arteries were occluded for 2 hrs. Recovery proceeded most rapidly in the first weeks. By the 4th month after the occlusion, all functions ranged between 73 and 86% of control in dog 1, between 42 and 62% in dog 2, and between 58 and 71% in dog 3. At autopsy, miltiple renal infarcts were found which corresponded roughly to the extent of permanent depression of renal function. Apparently the decreased values during the first weeks after occlusion were due mainly to factors other than concomitant reduction of renal blood flow. This differs from the few reported clinical cases of severe acute nephropathy in which renal blood flow (calculated from PAH extraction) was severely reduced in the early weeks following the initial renal failure. The data are compatible with the hypothesis that there was widespread tubular damage with perfusion through normal channels of the damaged tissue, as well as maintenance of relatively normal function in a small fraction of the nephrons.