Abstract
The apparent discrepancy between functional glomerulotubular balance and morphologic glomerular preponderance prompted us to develop a new technique to examine if the currently accepted estimates of glomerulor tuft volume (GTV) derived from measurements of diameter bear a constant relationship to glomerular capillary volume (GCV) and capillary surface area (GCA). Kidneys of puppies were fixed in vivo and injected with silastic. GTV was calculated from measurements of the distance between filled capillary loops located at opposite poles. Counts of the neutron activated chromium contained in the silastic served for calculation of GCV. GCA = 2 GCV/r, where r = mean capillary radius. The results are expressed as mean ± SE in mm3·10−5 or mm2 · 10−5 (n=4 in each age group; 50 superficial (S) and 50 iuxtamedullary (J) were measured in each animal).
Only the values observed in 6 week old animals are significantly different (p<.05)from the other age groups. in summary, GCV occupies a significantly smaller part of GTV in the newborn than in the 6 week old puppy suggesting that the so called glomerular preponderance might be artifactual.
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John, E., Goldsmith, D., Edelmann, C. et al. GLOMERULAR CAPILLARY VOLUME AND SURFACE AREA DURING ONTOGENY. Pediatr Res 11, 552 (1977). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-197704000-01094
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-197704000-01094