Alvin L. Sellers

Spontaneous hydronephrosis in the rat.

Summary 1) Spontaneous right hydronephrosis occurs in approximately half the animals in an inbred strain of Slonaker-Addis albino rats. The lesion disappears in female rats as they exceed 200 g weight. 2) The abnormality is produced by partial constriction of the right ureter by the ovarian or spermatic artery. 3) Hydronephrosis does not appear to predispose the animals to spontaneous infection in the abnormal kidney. The authors express their thanks to Drs. David Zion, Dept. of Radiology and to Maurice White, Dept. of Bacteriology, for aid in this study.

Effect of Adrenalectomy on Spontaneous and Induced Proteinuria in the Rat.

Summary 1. Bilateral adrenalectomy abolishes or greatly reduces the types of experimentally produced proteinuria studied in the saline maintained rat. 2. The normal, spontaneous proteinuria of the male rat is significantly reduced by bilateral adrenalectomy. 3. Cortisone administration to bilaterally adrenalectomized male rats increases their spontaneous proteinuria to normal control levels. 4. Adrenal cortex extract, esoxycorticosterone acetate, and cortisone restore the ability of the salt-maintained, adrenalectomized rat to respond to renin injection with massive proteinuria.

Plasma Albumin Catabolism in Tissue Slices.

Summary I131 labeled human albumin and screened and unscreened iodinated rat and rabbit albumins were incubated with tissue slices. prepared from rat and rabbit liver, kidney, spleen, lung, heart, muscle, and skin. No breakdown was observed in rat and rabbit liver homogenate. When iodoalbumins were preinjected into animals prior to preparation of slices, to introduce iodoalbumin into the extravascular exchangeable pool of various organs, significant breakdown did not occur. Breakdown of exogenous S35 biosynthetically labeled homologous albumin and globulin occurred only in slices of small intestine.

Effect of Plasmapheresis on Blood Cholesterol Levels in the Dog.

Summary Chronic plasmapheresis in the dog resulted in a fall in plasma albumin and an elevation of plasma cholesterol concentration.

Endocrine Influences on Proteinuria in the Rat Effect of AGTH.

Summary 1. Normal rats respond to the intraperitoneal injection of renin with an intense, transient proteinuria. ACTH administration results in a 60 to 65% increase in proteinuria in the hour following renin administration over and above that shown by non-ACTH treated controls. 2. The normal, spontaneous proteinuria of the male rat is significantly increased by ACTH administration.

Cytoplasmic Fractionation of Kidney Proteins.

Summary 1. Distribution of kidney proteins in various cytoplasmic fractions has been determined in normal, hypertrophied, and atrophied rat kidney. The Soluble I fraction from normal and hypertrophied kidneys has been subjected to paper electrophoresis. 2. Despite a gain in total protein of approximately 35% in the hypertrophied kidney, and a loss of approximately 20% in total protein in the atrophied kidney, the distribution of proteins in the various cytoplasmic fractions shows only minor deviations from the normal. 3. No consistent differences could be seen in electrophoresis patterns of the Soluble I fraction between normal and hypertrophied kidney. 4. The significance of these findings is discussed.

Protein metabolism in the mammalian kidney

The concentrations of amino acid and polypeptide nitrogen in plasma samples from the aorta, renal vein, and inferior vena cava of the rabbit have been determined. It was demonstrated that there were significantly higher concentrations of amino acids and polypeptides in the renal vein than in either aorta or inferior vena cava. The possible implications of these findings in relation to the role of the kidney in protein metabolism has been discussed.

Relation between adrenal and pituitary glands and urinary excretion of neutral reducing lipids in the rat.

Summary The neutral reducing lipids were determined in the urine of rats. Adrenalectomy decreased the excretion of this material to one-half the control value. Neither ACTH, growth hormone, nor anterior pituitary powder significantly increased NRL excretion. Posterior pituitary powder increased the excretion approximately 3-fold. This response is considerably diminished in adrenalectomized rats.