title: Impact of the supplementation of kidney mass on blood pressure and progression of kidney disease.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  To test the hypothesis that nephron mass is an independent determinant of arterial pressure, the effects of augmenting renal mass by isograft transplantation were studied in the model of secondary hypertension.
  
  
  METHODS
  The effects of isograft transplantation or sham operation on blood pressure, proteinuria, remnant kidney mass, glomerular filtration rate and glomerulosclerosis were assessed in 5/6 nephrectomized (5/6 NPX) rats.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Systolic blood pressure was lowered on average by approximately 35 mmHg and glomerular hyperfiltration was attenuated in the remnant kidneys of transplant recipients. Markedly lower urinary protein excretion rates and glomerulosclerosis scores in the remnant kidney accompanied these supplemental transplants to values roughly one-third of those from sham-operated rats.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The data show that reduced renal mass per se is the major factor in the development and maintenance of arterial hypertension and glomerular injury in 5/6 NPX rats and these changes can be reversed by supplementing renal mass. The data provide strong support for the notion that renal mass is a significant, independent determinant of arterial pressure.
authors.affiliation: Renal Division, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA. mai.ots@kliinikum.ee
authors.forename: Mai
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ots
authors.forename: Julia L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Troy
authors.forename: Helmut G
authors.initials: HG
authors.lastname: Rennke
authors.forename: Harald S
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Mackenzie
authors.forename: Barry M
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Brenner
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001795:Blood Pressure Determination; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D005919:Glomerular Filtration Rate; D006977:Hypertension, Renal / Q000503:physiopathology*; D016030:Kidney Transplantation; D008297:Male; D009392:Nephrectomy; D009929:Organ Size; D011507:Proteinuria / Q000503:physiopathology*; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D012016:Reference Values; D012079:Renal Circulation / Q000502:physiology; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014185:Transplantation, Isogeneic