Abstract
Giraffes are the tallest living animals and endowed with the highest arterial blood pressure of any animal on Earth. Here we present novel data on kidney function in this extraordinary animal obtained over the course of two major expeditions in 2010 and 2012. As expected, the anaesthetised giraffes had very high mean arterial blood pressure ranging between 150 and 300 mmHg. However, despite the high filtration pressure, the rate of glomerular filtration (GFR) was only 0.7 ± 0.2 ml/min/kg, which is approximately 40 % below similar-sized mammals. The renal blood flow of 3.1 l/min accounts for approximately 20 % of cardiac output, and the calculated filtration fraction (GFR/ERPF) was approximately 0.3, and hence within typical mammalian values. The normal kidney function of the giraffes appears due to very high interstitial pressures within the kidney, a feature that is possible due to the very thick and strong capsule surrounding the kidney in combination with a vascular valve at the entrance of the renal vein into the abdominal cava. These relatively simple structural modifications normalize the Starling forces driving filtration over the Bowman capsula.
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Damkjær, M. et al. (2015). Non-traditional Models: The Giraffe Kidney from a Comparative and Evolutionary Biology Perspective. In: Hyndman, K., Pannabecker, T. (eds) Sodium and Water Homeostasis. Physiology in Health and Disease. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-3213-9_12
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-3213-9_12
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