Search PubMed⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

R L Jamison

Publications and source records attributed to R L Jamison.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

Short and long loop nephrons.

The explanation for the necessity to have both short and long loop nephrons for urinary concentration is unknown but may represent nature's resolution of conflicting ideal conditions for maximum urinary concentration. Ideally, one would like the thick ascending limb to extend throughout the entire medulla to the papillary tip and be supplied by a blood flow vigorous enough to provide oxygen and remove waste products as rapidly as needed. One would also like to have a progressively smaller volume of tissue to be concentrated toward the papillary tip to lessen the osmotic work required and a highly efficient vascular exchange system to sequester the medullary interstitial solute effectively. But the same efficiency of countercurrent exchange of oxygen causes the inner medulla to have a relatively low oxygen content. The presence of the thin loops of Henle in the inner medulla may represent a compromise between these conflicting ideals. The papilla tapers to a low mass, which allows a mechanism requiring only a modest energy supply to increase the tonicity of the interstitium enormously. The reduced work requirement obivates the need for thick ascending limbs to extend into the papilla where they would be highly vulnerable to anoxia. The outer medulla with its larger mass and thick ascending limbs supplied by a high blood flow can initiate the operation to reduce the volume of fluid and solute to be concentrated, and at the same time carry out other functions required of the filtration-reabsorption kidney.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Absorption↗

The medullary microcirculation.

Like other regional circulations, the medullary circulation supplies oxygen and other primary substrates to the medulla and removes carbon dioxide and other waste metabolites. It also acts as a countercurrent exchanger and simultaneously removes water reabsorbed from the renal tubule to preserve mass balance. Our present understanding of how the medulla serves both these functions at the same time is illustrated in Figure 3. Blood leaves the efferent arteriole with an elevated plasma protein concentration as a consequence of glomerular filtration, and flows down descending vasa recta within a vascular bundle. The increased interstitial osmotic-concentration coupled with a finite capillary reflection coefficient for small solutes causes additional water to be extracted so that at the termination of descending vasa recta, the plasma protein concentration exceeds that in the systemic circulation by approximately twofold. Solute, urea more than sodium chloride, also enters descending vasa recta. As blood flows through the interconnecting capillary plexus and up ascending vasa recta, transcapillary oncotic and osmotic pressure differences combine to cause capillary uptake of fluid. There is also simultaneous loss of urea such that the medullary trapping of urea is very effective. Countercurrent exchange of sodium chloride, however, appears to be less efficient and as a consequence, not only water but sodium chloride is removed from the medulla. Antidiuretic hormone reduces medullary blood flow, both directly by its vasoconstrictor (V1-receptor mediated) effect and indirectly by its antidiuretic (V2-receptor mediated) effects. Prostaglandins are able to enhance medullary blood flow by counteracting vasoconstrictive influences.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Animals↗

Effect of atrial natriuretic peptide on vasa recta blood flow in the rat.

To determine whether synthetic atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) increases renal medullary blood flow and if so whether the increase mediates the diuresis and natriuresis induced by ANP, inner medullary vasa recta blood flow in the exposed left renal papilla of anesthetized Munich Wistar rats weighing between 102 and 161 g was measured by fluorescence videomicroscopy. The rats were maintained in a euvolemic state by the infusion of albumin. Synthetic ANP (Auriculin B) was administered intravenously as 2.5 micrograms/kg body wt prime and as a continuous infusion of 0.2 microgram X min-1 X kg body wt-1 to the experimental group (n = 7). Within 2 min after ANP was given, urine flow and sodium excretion increased (29.4 +/- 3.8 to 50.4 +/- 5.8 microliter X min-1 X kidney wt-1, P less than 0.01, and 3.39 +/- 0.57 to 6.05 +/- 0.95 mueq X min-1 X g kidney wt-1, P less than 0.01, respectively), but vasa recta blood flow in descending (DVR) or ascending (AVR) vasa recta did not change significantly (9.5 +/- 2.3 to 10.0 +/- 2.8 nl/min in DVR and 5.3 +/- 1.0 to 6.1 +/- 1.2 nl/min in AVR). Forty-five minutes after ANP was begun, urine flow and sodium excretion increased further (77.1 +/- 11.1 microliter X min-1 X g kidney wt-1 and 12.0 +/- 2.15 mueq X min-1 X g kidney wt-1, respectively), and by this time vasa recta blood flow had increased significantly to 14.0 +/- 2.6 in DVR, P less than 0.01, and 9.8 +/- 1.2 in AVR, P less than 0.01.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Animals↗

Effect of V2-receptor-mediated changes on inner medullary blood flow induced by AVP.

We have previously shown that arginine vasopressin (AVP) in physiological amounts reduces inner medullary blood flow and that the mechanism of this decrease is at least in part mediated by the vasopressor (V1-receptor) action of AVP. To determine whether the antidiuretic action of AVP (V2-receptor) also contributes to the reduction in inner medullary blood flow, we determined capillary blood flow (QVR) in individual descending vasa recta (DVR) and ascending vasa recta (AVR) using fluorescence videomicroscopy in the exposed renal papilla of the anesthetized rat. Three groups of chronically water-diuretic rats were studied in three consecutive periods: control (period 1), experimental (period 2), and recovery (period 3). Group I rats (designated the AVP group) received AVP, 45 ng X h-1 X kg body wt-1; group II (AVP + V2-inhibitor), AVP plus its specific antidiuretic antagonist d(CH2)5[D-Ile2,Thr4]AVP; and group III (V2-inhibitor), the antagonist alone, respectively, in the experimental period 2. Only group I rats concentrated their urine, urine osmolality (Uosmol) = 499 +/- 48 mosmol/kgH2O, whereas urine remained hypotonic throughout in groups II and III. In group I, QVR in DVR and AVR decreased in period 2; but in groups II and III, QVR tended to increase. These results suggest that the AVP-induced decrease in papillary vasa recta blood flow is in part mediated by its antidiuretic V2-receptor as well as by its vasopressor (V1-receptor). They also suggest that the rate of urinary flow in the medullary collecting ducts is a determinant of inner medullary blood flow.

Aminohippuric Acids↗

Effect of adrenalectomy on transport in the rat medullary thick ascending limb.

Previous studies in adrenalectomized (Adx) rats suggest that aldosterone may regulate ion transport in the ascending portion of Helen's loop. In order to examine directly the effect of adrenalectomy on transport, medullary thick ascending limb (Mtal) segments were isolated from Adx, Adx replaced with aldosterone (Adx + Ald, 0.5 micrograms X 100 g X body wt X d), and control Sprague-Dawley rats. Both net sodium and net chloride fluxes were significantly less in the Mtal segments from Adx rats compared with those in the control or Adx + Ald group. Physiologic levels of exogenous aldosterone increased net sodium chloride flux toward control values in the Adx + Ald group. Net potassium flux was not different among the three groups. We conclude that adrenalectomy impairs reabsorptive NaCl but not K transport in the Mtal, and that aldosterone restores this process. This reabsorptive defect may contribute to the urinary concentrating and diluting abnormality associated with adrenal insufficiency.

Adrenalectomy↗

The shape of renal vasa recta capillaries and its effect on calculation of single capillary blood flow.

Previous studies of the renal papilla of the rat have suggested that the vasa recta capillaries can be well approximated by elliptical cylinders (C. Holliger, K. V. Lemley, S. L. Schmitt, F. C. Thomas, C. R. Robertson, and R. L. Jamison, 1983, Circ. Res., 53, 401-413). This hypothesis was validated in a morphological study employing several methods of specimen fixation and preparation. Papillas of young (body wt = 90 g) Wistar rats were fixed and subsequently examined by light and electron microscopy. Cross-sectional shapes and orientations were determined for 300 superficial vasa recta. The ratio, beta, of vessel cross-sectional major-axis-to-minor-axis lengths was 1.39 +/- 0.24 (SD). Values of beta greater than 1.0 (the value expected for circular vessels) could not be accounted for by either fixation artifact or the angle of histologic sectioning of the papillas. A quantitative estimate of the relationship between the apparent capillary diameter measured in vivo and the capillary cross-sectional area was made using a mathematical model which accounts for cross-sectional shapes and orientations of the vasa recta. This estimate implies that current methods of calculating single vas rectum blood flow using apparent diameters and blood velocities determined in vivo probably overestimate actual blood flow by about 25%.

Animals↗

Effect of intermittent feeding on renal hemodynamics in conscious rats.

The hemodynamic influences of many forms of dietary restriction have not been studied in the conscious rat. To examine the effect of one regimen of dietary restriction, alternate-day feeding, on renal hemodynamics, we performed 56 clearance studies in 20 unanesthetized, previously catheterized male Sprague-Dawley rats at mean age 30 wk. Group 1 rats (n = 10) were given standard chow only on alternate days for 25 wk and then studied after feeding and after fasting days, whereas group 2 rats (n = 10) were fed ad libitum during the same period and then studied randomly. In group 1, glomerular filtration rate (GFR, clearance of inulin) and renal blood flow [RBF, clearance of PAH/(1 - hematocrit)] increased 23 and 19%, respectively, after feeding days compared with fasting days (GFR, 4.25 vs. 3.47 ml/min, P less than 0.005; RBF, 22.2 vs. 18.6 ml/min, P less than 0.025). After feeding, mean arterial pressure and plasma protein concentration were unchanged, hematocrit increased slightly, and fractional excretion of sodium rose from 0.23 to 0.57%. Both GFR and RBF averaged 31% less in group 1 than in group 2 but, when factored by body weight, the differences were abolished. The results indicate that alternate-day feeding causes substantial oscillations in GFR and RBF in healthy awake rats through mechanisms unlikely to involve changes in extracellular fluid volume alone and limits GFR and RBF to average values markedly lower than those observed for larger ad libitum-fed rats of the same age.

Animals↗

Videomicroscopic method for direct determination of blood flow to the papilla of the kidney.

We adapted the technique of videomicroscopy for direct determination of blood flow in individual capillaries of the papilla of the kidney, the ascending vasa recta (AVR) and descending vasa recta (DVR). The papilla was exposed in anesthetized rats and positioned under a video-camera-microscope and viewed under epiillumination. The intravenous infusion of fluorescein-isothiocyanate (FITC)-labeled gamma globulin was combined with fluorescence microscopy to enhance the contrast among plasma, red blood cells and capillary walls. On the television monitor, the walls were clearly outlined, enabling the measurement of capillary diameter. The velocity of red cells (Vrbc) in individual vasa recta was measured using the dual slit technique. From the videotape recorded microscopic image of a vas rectum, two photometric signals were obtained by integrating the light intensity from two electronic "windows" positioned closely together over the same capillary. Red cell velocity was calculated by dividing the distance between the two windows by the time delay between signals. The delay was determined using analog correlation tracking or digital cross correlation techniques. Single vasa recta blood flow was calculated from capillary diameter, Vrbc, and F (Fahraeus factor), which converts Vrbc to average whole blood velocity, Vblood. In quartz capillaries the same size as vasa recta, the ratio F = Vrbc/Vblood = 1.42 +/- 0.06. Total papillary blood inflow and outflow was calculated by multiplying the total number of DVR or AVR times the mean single capillary blood flow for DVR or AVR, respectively.

Animals↗

Use of digital cross-correlation for on-line determination of single-vessel blood flow in the mammalian kidney.

The empirical relationship between erythrocyte velocity (Vrbc) and mean blood velocity (Vblood) was studied in quartz capillaries by television microscopy using the dual-slit technique. A newly designed desktop digital on-line cross-correlator was combined with a computer to determine Vrbc. The accuracy of the digital correlator was tested for velocities ranging from 0 to 3 mm/sec and compared with values determined using an analog tracking correlation device. There was good agreement. Small-bore glass tubes with diameters ranging from 12 to 26 micron were perfused with suspensions of erythrocytes having hematocrits between 10 and 37%. The relationship between mean blood velocity and erythrocyte velocity in these quartz tubes was found to be Vblood = 0.88 Vrbc - 0.11, and was independent of diameter and hematocrit within the range investigated. The mean ratio for Vrbc/Vblood was 1.42 +/- 0.06.

Capillaries↗

Effect of acute potassium load on reabsorption in Henle's loop in chronic renal failure in the rat.

To determine the effect of an acute load of potassium on potassium reabsorption by the loop of Henle in chronic renal failure, the right kidney was removed and branches of the left renal artery were ligated in 17 rats. One week later and after 2 days of a potassium-free diet, rats were studied before (period 1) and after (period 2) acute loads of potassium chloride (KCl group), equimolar sodium chloride (NaCl group) or no solute (time control). The KCl load increased urinary potassium excretion to a greater extent (from 5 to 50%, P less than 0.005) than in NaCl (14 to 27%) or time control (9 to 14%), and caused as great a diuresis and natriuresis as did NaCl. Fractional delivery of water, sodium, and potassium to the end-proximal tubule increased similarly in the NaCl and KCl groups and slightly less so in the time control group in period 2. The major finding was a striking increase in potassium delivery to the beginning of the distal tubule (from 17 to 37%) in period 2 which was substantially greater than in the combined control groups (13 to 19%, P less than 0.025) and was equivalent to three-quarters of urinary potassium excretion. This was the consequence of an increase in the filtered load of potassium, an increase in absolute delivery of potassium from the proximal tubule (P less than 0.005), and a decrease in fractional potassium reabsorption by the loop of Henle from 64 to 48%, versus 72 to 69% in the control groups (P less than 0.01). These results suggest that the proximal tubule and, in particular, Henle's loop play a role in excreting an acute potassium load in chronic renal failure.

Animals↗

Fluid uptake in the renal papilla by vasa recta estimated by two methods simultaneously.

Fluid uptake by vasa recta was determined by two independent methods, videomicroscopy and the micropuncture technique, in the exposed papilla of nine antidiuretic rats to reconcile differences in values previously obtained by the two techniques. Erythrocyte velocity (Vrbc) and diameter (D) in descending vasa recta (DVR) (n = 22) and ascending vasa recta (AVR) (n = 31) near the "base" of the papilla were measured. Using a conversion function determined in vitro, Vrbc was transformed into mean blood velocity (Vblood). From D and Vblood, mean blood flow (Q) in DVR and AVR was calculated. In DVR, mean Vrbc, D, and Q were 1.06 +/- 0.01 mm/s, 16.3 +/- 0.4 micron, and 10.6 +/- 1.4 nl/min, respectively. In AVR, each corresponding value differed significantly, 0.47 +/- 0.06 mm/s (P less than 0.001), 19.8 +/- 0.8 micron (P less than 0.001), and 5.65 +/- 1.3 nl/min (P less than 0.025), respectively. Blood samples from DVR and AVR were obtained by micropuncture from the same location. Plasma protein concentration (g/dl) was 5.1 +/- 0.6 in DVR, 4.0 +/- 0.4 (P less than 0.05) in AVR, and 3.6 +/- 0.3 (P less than 0.025) in the renal vein. Assuming no net transcapillary loss of protein, total plasma outflow exceeded inflow by 29%, the excess representing fluid uptake; and to reconcile the blood flow and plasma protein concentrations found, functioning AVR should outnumber functioning DVR by a ratio of 2.1-2.4 to 1, depending on local hematocrit. Given the total number of AVR + DVR = 2,944 (at the base), capillary fluid uptake was calculated to range between 1.5 and 2.6 microliter/min.

Animals↗

Effect of arginine vasopressin on renal medullary blood flow. A videomicroscopic study in the rat.

The role of arginine vasopressin (AVP) in the regulation of renal medullary blood flow is uncertain. To determine if AVP has a direct vasoconstrictive action on vasa recta, the effect of AVP on erythrocyte velocity (VRBC), diameter, and blood flow (QVR) in descending vasa recta (DVR) and ascending vasa recta (AVR) was studied in the exposed renal papilla of four groups of chronically water diuretic rats using fluorescence videomicroscopy. There were three periods: control (period 1), experimental (period 2), and recovery (period 3). In periods 1 and 3, all groups received hypotonic saline. In period 2, group I rats (AVP) received AVP (45 ng/h per kg body wt); group II (time) received hypotonic saline alone; group III (AVP plus V1-inhibitor) received AVP plus its vascular antagonist, d(CH2)5Tyr(Me)AVP; and group IV (V1-inhibitor) received the vascular antagonist alone. Another group of rats (group V) was employed to demonstrate that the rise in blood pressure induced by a 3- or 10-ng/kg injection of AVP was virtually abolished by the prior infusion of the V1-inhibitor. The urine of group III as well as group I rats was concentrated (Uosm = 721 +/- 62 H2O vs. 670 +/- 39 mosM/kg), while urine remained dilute in groups II and IV. In period 2, VRBC and QVR in DVR and AVR decreased in group I, did not decrease in group III, and increased in groups II and IV. The vascular antagonist thus completely abolished the AVP-induced decrease in QVR in group III. These findings unequivocally establish that AVP in physiological amounts reduces medullary blood flow, at least in part, by a direct vasoconstrictive action on the medullary microcirculation. They also show that an effect of AVP on medullary blood flow is not necessary for its antidiuretic effect.

Animals↗

The variable hyponatremic response to hyperglycemia.

Hyperglycemia may lower the plasma sodium concentration. Theoretical analyses have suggested that elevations in glucose concentration produce an invariant hyponatremic response. We propose, however, that change in plasma sodium concentration in response to hyperglycemia is variable and depends on (1) the distribution of total body water and solute, (2) the relationship between the gain of extracellular glucose and the loss of intracellular solute and (3) the intake and loss of solute and water. These factors are incorporated into a formulation of the relationship between the plasma sodium and glucose concentrations.

Blood Glucose↗

Prostaglandin synthesis inhibitors and vasa recta erythrocyte velocities in the rat.

Vasa recta erythrocyte velocities (VRBC) in the exposed renal papilla of anesthetized water-loaded rats were determined before and 60 min after intravenous administration of a prostaglandin synthesis inhibitor (indomethacin, meclofenamate) or the inhibitor vehicle alone. The change in VRBC of ascending and descending vasa recta for the inhibitor group [-17 +/- 5% (SE)] was different from that for controls (+12 +/- 4%, P less than 0.002). Erythrocyte velocities were also determined in vasa recta of antidiuretic rats before and 30 min after administration of indomethacin or vehicle alone. Prostaglandin synthesis inhibition was again associated with a significant decrease in VRBC compared with control (-24 +/- 4% vs. +28 +/- 20%, respectively, P less than 0.025). These findings suggest that prostaglandins play a similar role in regulating blood flow in the renal medulla in water diuresis and antidiuresis.

Animals↗

Examination of transepithelial exchange of water and solute in the rat renal pelvis.

Severance of the ureter beyond the renal papilla causes a fall in urinary osmolality, which suggests that exchange of water or solute between urine and renal parenchyma normally occurs in the intact renal pelvis. We examined water and solute flux in the renal pelvis with micropuncture and microcatheterization techniques. Four groups of antidiuretic rats were studied. Group I (n = 17) underwent micropuncture through the intact contracting ureter. Urine samples were obtained at the papillary tip, and in the pelvis beside the base of the extrarenal papilla. Urinary osmolality at the base, 880 +/- 97 mosmol/kg H2O (mean +/- SE), was less than that at the tip, 1,425 +/- 104 mosmol/kg H2O (P less than 0.005). In group II (n = 24), samples were analyzed for inulin and osmolality. In 15 rats (group IIA), comparison was made between base and tip samples. In the other nine animals (group IIB), comparisons were made among base, tip, and bladder samples and urea was also measured. In group II (A and B combined) urine-to-plasma (U/P) osmolality was lower at the base, 4.31 +/- 0.27, than at the tip, 6.08 +/- 0.23 (P less than 0.001), and U/P inulin was lower at the base, 192 +/- 25, than at the tip, 306 +/- 16 (P less than 0.001). In group IIB, the bladder urine had a lower U/P osmolality, 5.27 +/- 0.25, than the tip, 6.01 +/- 0.31 (P less than 0.02). The U/P urea was 59 +/- 10.6 (base), 98 +/- 9.4 (tip) (base vs. tip, P less than 0.05), and 81 +/- 6.5 (bladder, P less than 0.005, compared with tip). In group III (n = 8), samples were obtained by microcatheter from the fornices, the deepest intrarenal extensions of the pelvis, and compared with samples at the tip. Urinary osmolality was lower in the fornix, 646 +/- 106 mosmol/kg H2O, than at the tip, 1,296 +/- 99 mosmol/kg H2O (P less than 0.001). Similarly, U/P inulin was lower in the fornix, 48 +/- 14, than at the tip, 128 +/- 12 (P less than 0.001). The lower U/P inulin in the pelvic urine is the result of either the addition of fluid to the pelvis, or the backleak of inulin across the epithelium lining the pelvis. To verify that the pelvic epithelium was impermeable to inulin, in group IVA (n = 4) the left renal pelvis was superfused with a solution of chemical inulin. Cumulative absorption of inulin from the left kidney was 0.15 +/- 0.08% of that superfused. Using [14C]inulin in group IVB (n= 3), similar results were obtained (0.05 +/- 0.02%). These findings indicate that in the renal pelvis, fluid is added to urine after it emerges from the collecting ducts. We suggest that reflux of hyperosmotic urine over the renal papilla creates a transepithelial gradient for the flux of water into the pelvis. A model that incorporates diffusive and convective forces for water and solute transport is proposed to account for these findings.

Animals↗

The renal concentrating mechanism: micropuncture studies of the renal medulla.

Micropuncture of the rat renal papilla has disclosed an outward transepithelial gradient for NaCl at the bend of Henle's thin loop and an electrical potential difference, lumen positive, in the ascending thin limb. Substantial water extraction and urea secretion occur somewhere proximal to the bend, but direct evidence for transepithelial NaCl movement across the rat descending thin limb is lacking. In the hamster, water is extracted and urea secreted, but no NaCl gradient has been found, and in Psammomys there is indirect evidence for transepithelial entry of NaCl into the descending limb. Fluid is diluted in the ascending thin limb by reabsorption of NaCl. The lack of unequivocal evidence for active NaCl reabsorption has stimulated a search for alternative mechanisms of osmotic work in the inner medulla. The collecting duct plays a crucial role by its differential reabsorption of water (primarily in the cortex) and urea (exclusively in the inner medulla) but has not yet been shown to supply useful energy to the concentrating mechanism by active sodium reabsorption. Exposure of the papillary tip by ureteral excision impairs urinary osmolality. Ureteral peristalsis normally causes intermittent flow of fluid in the collecting duct, but abolition of intermittent flow by paralysis of the ureter does not decrease urinary osmolality. Superperfusion of the exposed papilla by a urea solution prevents the decline in osmolality but the amount of urea used greatly exceeds that available from the urine. Nevertheless, it is the intactness of the ureter that is somehow essential to maximum urinary concentration, perhaps by preventing loss of solute from the papilla rather than by supplying energy.

Absorption↗