Brain water alterations after unilateral nephrectomy. A study of regional circulatory factors in squirrel monkeys.

White and regional gray matter distributions of water, blood flow, and the protein tracer pertechnetate were measured in five normal squirrel monkeys. A second group of five monkeys, which had undergone unilateral nephrectomy six months previously, were found at the time of study to have blood pressures similar to those of the control animals but increased brain water and altered distribution of blood flow which was increased in white matter. No alteration of capillary permeability to the protein traces attended these changes, which appeared to be influenced by blood pressure. Nephrectomy without hypertension influences brain water content, perhaps because of an effect on cerebral resistance vessels. In hypertensive encephalopathy renal lesions, as well as intraluminal pressure changes, may be related to cerebral edema.