AJP - Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology, Vol 270, Issue 1 298-R303, Copyright © 1996 by American Physiological Society
Access to rat kidney with minimal anesthesia and surgery: a new experimental model
J. Sadowski, E. Kompanowska-Jezierska and A. Walkowska
Department of Applied Physiology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland.
Chronic surgical explantation of the left rat kidney out of the abdominal
cavity under the flank skin enabled easy access to the organ and
ipsilateral urine collection under light chloralose anesthesia without
virtually any surgical intervention. The glomerular filtration rate, urine
flow and osmolality, sodium excretion, and medullary tissue hypertonicity
were similar in the explanted and in the contralateral kidney, whereas
p-aminohippurate clearance was 14% lower. The function of the explanted
kidney was also compared with that of the kidney acutely exposed in rats
under thiobutabarbital anesthesia and rendered euvolemic by isoncotic
albumin infusion. Again, in both preparations renal function was comparable
except that over time urine osmolality remained stable in the former and
fell from 1,385 +/- 195 to 835 +/- 167 mosmol/kgH2O (P < 0.02) in the
latter, indicating deterioration of urine concentration. Laser-Doppler
probes could be easily applied in the explanted kidney to measure cortical
and medullary blood flow. The new experimental model offers some
advantages, both over studies using conscious rats and over experiments
involving deep anesthesia and acute surgery.
