Compensatory renal hypertrophy in male dwarf mice.

The Snell dwarf mouse (dw/dw) is the result of a single recessive gene that is not sex-linked. The dwarfism is caused by the congenital deficiency of growth hormone, thyrotropin, and prolactin. This unique genetic model was selected to study compensatory renal hypertrophy. Compensatory renal hypertrophy occurred to a significant degree (P less than 0.01) in the unilaterally nephrectomized dwarf mutant (dw/dw), normal heterozygous (dw/DW), and normal homozygous (DW/DW) male littermates. There was no significant difference in the amount of compensatory renal hypertrophy between the groups (P greater than 0.5). These results suggest that three of the anterior pituitary hormones are not necessary for the compensatory hypertrophy response to unilateral nephrectomy.