ABSTRACT
It has been commonly noted that male patients have worse prognosis in adult polycystic kidney disease, IgA nephropathy, and membranous nephropathy. Several animal experiments were performed to clarify the mechanisms by which male gender confers a more adverse renal prognosis. Obese Zucker rats are characterized by severe obesity, insulin resistance, extremely high serum insulin level, high cholesterol level and spontaneous glomerular sclerosis. The aim of current study was to investigate whether there was a gender difference in 1) mean arterial pressure and renal function 2) glomerular volume by renal perfusion 3) glomerular hemodynamic factors including glomerular blood flow, glomerular pressure, renal vascular resistance, ultrafiltration coefficient by micropuncture techniques in obese male and female Zucker rats. There was no difference in blood glucose, serum insulin level, mean arterial pressure and glomerular sclerosis rate between male and female Zucker rats. Male Zucker rats had slightly higher glomerular filtration rate, kidney weight, single nephron glomerular filtration rate, glomerular capillary hydraulic pressure which was statistically insignificant. These findings suggest that gender difference in hemodynamic factors does not play a role in the progression of renal disease in obese Zucker rats.