THE EFFECT OF DIURETICS ON RABBITS DURING THE RECOVERY STAGE FROM ACUTE URANIUM NEPHRITIS

In 1854 Leconte observed that uranium is a nephrotoxic agent and in 1904 Richter showed that it would not only induce a renal injury but that it would lead to the development of a general anasarca in animals, thus simulating the clinical picture of acute nephritis in man. Later it was also shown that it has but little demonstrable action in producing lesions elsewhere than in the kidney, and here primarily one of tubular epitheium necrosis. Since then it has been widely used in the production and study of experimental nephritis, a very complete review of which was written by MacNider in 1924 (1) In 1915 Oliver (2) made a careful study of the histogenesis of chronic uranium nephritis with especial reference to epithelial repair. He worked with guinea pigs, rabbits, and rats. In these studies he has shown that in the recovery stage from acute uranium nephritis there is excessive formation of new epithelial cells in syncitial-like masses. This has been shown in rabbits to occur after the third day of intoxication and by the tenth day there is as a rule no sign of degenerated necrotic cells, nor are there spaces of any extent yet to be covered with epithelium. However, even as late as the one hundred seventeenth day the regenerated epithelium differed widely from normal renal tubular epitheliu.m. He, therefore, concluded that it is improbable that it ever regains the morphology of the original renal cells. Later Hunter (3) in studying the acquired resistance of rabbit's rena