Partial protection against acute renal failure in rats with reduced renal mass.

Glycerol-induced acute renal failure (ARF) was studied in rats with two degrees of reduced renal mass (RRM). RRM animals, when compared with sham-operated animals, showed a partial protection against this model of ARF. This protection depends on a less marked decrease in glomerular filtration rate and renal plasma flow after ARF induction in RRM rats, with an increased filtration fraction. It is suggested that glycerol injection in RRM rats could induce a mainly efferent arteriolar vasoconstriction, in contrast to control rats, whose glomerular arteriolar vasoconstriction is mainly afferent.