Acute renal failure due to uric acid nephropathy in a patient with renal hypouricemia.

This report is about a 23-year-old man who required hemodialysis in connection with an acute renal failure resulting from uric acid nephropathy without hyperuricemia. After recovering renal function he showed extreme hypouricemia (0.1-0.3 mg/dl) and elevated uric acid clearance (100-300 ml/min). The fractional excretion of uric acid (Cua/Ccr) could be suppressed by oral pyrazinamide and enhanced by probenecid. As no other renal tubular or metabolic abnormalities were detected, it is suggested that a markedly increased renal tubular urate secretion was responsible for the hypouricemia and also for the rare side-effect of an uric acid nephropathy in this patient.

Glucagon and prostaglandins are mediators of amino acid-induced rise in renal hemodynamics.

An oral protein load or infusion of amino acids induces a rise in renal hemodynamics in normal subjects, but the mechanisms mediating this phenomenon are unknown. We investigated whether glucagon may mediate the increase in RPF and GFR induced by an arginine infusion and whether prostaglandins are required for this effect. In four different studies, normal subjects underwent 13 inulin and PAH clearances of 30 minutes each. During the fourth and tenth clearance periods arginine HCl, 250 mg/kg, was infused over 30 minutes. At the beginning of the fifth clearance period several subjects ingested indomethacin, 150 mg, (N = 8) or ibuprofen, 800 mg (N = 6). Control subjects (N = 4) did not receive cyclooxygenase inhibitors. Six subjects underwent a similar protocol except that they were infused with glucagon, 6 ng/kg/min, instead of arginine, for 30 minutes during the fourth and tenth periods. They also ingested indomethacin, 150 mg, in the fifth period. In all four studies, a transient and significant rise in RPF and GRF and fall in RVR occurred during the first arginine or glucagon infusion. These changes in renal hemodynamics were blocked when the arginine or glucagon infusion was repeated after administration of indomethacin or ibuprofen. Urinary excretion of 6-keto-PGF1 alpha did not rise with either arginine infusion in the control subjects or in the individuals who received indomethacin. As predicted, urinary 6-keto-PGF1 alpha fell significantly after ingestion of indomethacin before the second infusion of arginine. Plasma norepinephrine and epinephrine concentrations were unaffected by the arginine infusions or by indomethacin.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Increase in renal plasma flow and glomerular filtration rate during growth hormone treatment may be mediated by insulin-like growth factor I.

The temporal relationships between the changes in inulin and p-aminohippurate clearances and plasma growth hormone (GH) and insulin-like growth factor I (IGF I levels were examined in a man with hypothalamic GH deficiency before and during the first 6 days of treatment with daily GH injections. The patient ate a diet with a constant protein and salt content from 1 week before the study until it was completed. During the 4-hour period immediately after the first GH injection, plasma GH rose markedly, but plasma IGF I was not detectable, and effective renal plasma flow (ERPF) and glomerular filtration rate (GFR) did not change from baseline. On the next day, before the second GH injection was given, plasma GH was only slightly elevated, plasma IGF I had increased, and ERPF and GFR had risen by +35.5 +/- 2.1% (SEM) and +22.7 +/- 2.8%, respectively. On the 4th and 7th days, immediately before the GH injections, there was no further rise in ERPF and GFR, both of which remained well above baseline values. At these times, plasma GH levels were at baseline, but plasma IGF I continued to rise progressively. These data are consistent with the thesis that the low ERPF and GFR in GH deficiency is due to the lack of synthesis of IGF I rather than the deficiency in GH per se. The data are also consistent with a stimulatory effect of IGF I on ERPF and GFR.