Sadowski J, Kulczykowska E, Kulczykowski M, Badzyńska B
Department of Applied Physiology, Medical Research Centre, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw.
Acta Physiol Hung. 1988;72(3-4):335-42.
A method is described for continuous measurement of total renal blood flow in anesthetized rats and rabbits. It consists of recording time intervals in which a fixed volume of renal vein outflow enters into an extracorporeal renin vein - jugular vein shunt and is pumped back to animals' circulation. This technique yields absolute flow values of unequalled accuracy and requires virtually no calibration; however, it is not suitable for recording rapid flow transients. The RBF measured averaged 5.5 +/- (SE) 0.1 ml/min.g kidney weight in rats and 2.5 +/- 1.1 ml/min.g in rabbits; the flow was stable over at least 1.5-2 hrs. The rat kidneys tested showed usual capacity to autoregulate blood flow during graded reduction in renal perfusion pressure.
