CARDIOVASCULAR LESIONS FOLLOWING BILATERAL NEPHRECTOMY OF DOG: Role of Hypertension and Other Factors on Pathogenesis

A FUNDAMENTAL role of the kidney in the maintenance of the integrity of the heart and arteries is suggested by the development of severe cardiovascular lesions following bilateral nephrectomy and other experimental manipulations of the kidney associated with renal insufficiency. 1 The development of prominent hypertension after some of these renal manipulations, plus the occurrence of vascular lesions similar to certain vascular lesions of the human in malignant hypertension, has led to the concept that the hypertension per se causes the vascular lesions. 2 Some workers, 3 however, have considered that disturbances associated with renal failure induce the lesions. Another school of thought implicates dietary influences in the genesis of the vascular lesions. 1h Thus the pathogenesis of these important cardiovascular lesions remains obscure. Yet, it is likely that an understanding of the pathogenesis of these experimental cardiovascular lesions not only would add to the understanding of malignant hypertension but might also serve to