Changes in the hyaluronidase-hyaluronic acid system in the kidneys of rabbits with experimental intestitial nephritis

Summary

A study was made of functional and morphological changes occurring in the kidneys of rabbits 40 to 60 days after a single intravenous administration of a hemolytic streptococcus culture. A, type Griffiths 12. The infectious process disappears by the 20th–30th day and is then followed by the appearance of autoantibodies in the serumindicating the presence of an immunopathological reaction. In experimental animals there is a considerable reduction of the capacity for urine concentration and developing high diuresis; the sensitivity to pituitrin P is either absent on reduce: after administration of the latter the inulin concentration index does not rise. At the same time glomerular filtration (by inulin clearance C_in) and tubular secretion (by phenyl red excretion) show no statistically significant deviations from the normal. As distinct from the normal, hyaluronidase is present in the urine not only in cases of low, but also of high diuresis. Histochemical examination indicated disappearance or marked reduction of acid mucopolysaccharides in the papilla (Ritter-Olsen's method). According to A. G. Ginetsinskii, these mucopolysaccharides serve as a substrate for the action of hyaluronidase secreted under the effect of pituitrin P.