The intrarenal distribution of 125I-albumin in the Syrian hamster.

The intrarenal distribution of radioiodinated human serum albumin (125RISA) after intravenous injection was studied in Syrian hamsters by scintillation counting and frozen section autoradiography. After 15, 30 and 60 min the virtual plasma albumin space in the renal cortex of the hamster represented 6.49, 7.13, and 8.06 percent respectively of the kidney tissue volume. From the cortex to the renal papilla the albumin space increased to about 30 percent of the tissue volume. In comparison to this the albumin space in the renal cortex of the rat was about 20% and in the renal papilla about 33% (11). Frozen section autoradiography indicated that the distribution of radioalbumin in the renal cortex of the Syrian hamster is limited mainly to the kidney vessels, being especially noticeable in the glomerular capillaries. Toward the papilla increasingly greater (mainly extratubular) activity could be observed not only intravascularly but also interstitially. In the cortex of the rat kidney, on the other hand, radioactive albumin was accumulated (probably by filtration and reabsorption) predominantly in the proximal tubular epithelium. Wtithin 30 min thekidneys of the rat excreted mor than 10 times as much 125I than the hamster kidneys. These results (substantially less cortical accumulation and urinary excretion of radioalbumin in the Syrian hamster) indicate that, in contrast to the rat, obviously much less albumin is filtered (and then accumulated by proximal reabsorption) by the Syrian hamster glomeruli. This suggests that the Syrian hamster kidney is more suitable than the rat kidney for determining the interstitial, cortical, albumin space.