Abstract
Rabbits were injected subcutaneously with uranium nitrate in doses which varied from those which produced marked anatomical and functional changes to those which led to no certain effect.
A strain was placed on the urea-excreting function of the kidneys by the administration of urea by stomach tube.
While the kidneys were under the influence of this strain, the volume of urine, the rate of urea excretion, and the concentration of urea in the urine and blood were determined before and after the injection of uranium.
The most marked and constant functional change produced by the uranium was found to be a depression of the ratio between the rate of urea excretion and the concentration of urea in the blood. The degree of depression in this ratio was fairly closely parallel to the degree of anatomical damage, as judged from the extent and intensity of the necrosis or of the degenerative changes found in the terminal portion of the proximal convoluted tubule.
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