Abnormalities of heme biosynthesis in experimental acute renal failure.

Several abnormalities of porphyrin metabolism have been described in patients with end-stage renal failure. Because the heme biosynthetic pathway in acute renal failure has not been studied hitherto, an experimental model was therefore induced in 30 dogs by ligation and transection of both ureters. Forty-eight h after this procedure, anemia and uremia developed, erythrocyte aminolevulinate dehydratase activity decreased, and plasma porphyrins increased in these 30 dogs, whereas seven sham-operated animals did not exhibit any alteration of these parameters.

Alterations in renal endothelin production in rats with reduced renal mass.

Renal endothelin-1 (ET-1) production is diminished in spontaneously hypertensive rats. An increase has been reported of renal ET-1 production associated with progression of renal disease in rats with reduced renal mass. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the evolution over time of the urinary ET-1 excretion in an experimental model of renal mass reduction not caused by renal infarction.

Hemodialysis with acetate, DL-lactate and bicarbonate: a hemodynamic and gasometric study.

Using invasive techniques we have studied various hemodynamic and gasometric parameters in the course of hemodialysis (HD) with different buffers in an animal model. HD sessions of 180 minutes at zero ultrafiltration were carried out on three groups of eight uremic dogs each, under anesthesia and constant mechanical ventilation. The three groups differed only in the buffer used: acetate (Group AC), equal proportions of DL-lactate and acetate (Group AC+LA), and bicarbonate (Group BC).

Hemorrhagic gastroesophageal ulceration by pulmonary infection in extrahepatic cholestatic pigs.

We developed a biliary and pulmonary microbiologic study in 22 Large-White pigs that underwent bile-duct ligation in order to demonstrate that sepsis has a biliary and pulmonary origin which may be involved in the gatroesophageal pathology. All the pigs died at 18.2 +/- 8.

Auxiliary liver transplantation in the pig without portal blood: a study of a new technique for application to the heterotopic hepatic xenotransplant.

An auxiliary liver transplantation surgical technique in the pig, in which the graft only receives blood flow via the hepatic artery since an end-to-side portacaval shunt is performed in the donor animal prior to the transplantation, is described. The functional impairment of the receptor liver was done by a ligature of the choledoch, provoking death by sepsis in six of the transplanted animals at 8.16 +/- 6.