Impaired kidney function in rats six months after unilateral nephrectomy

Aim Despite of routinely practised living kidney transplantation, data on consequences and impact of unilateral nephrectomy on thequality of life and health of donors are scarce. The aim of the present study was to examine long-term changes and function of theremnant kidney after unilateral nephrectomy in an animal model. Methods Thirty six female Sprague – Dawley rats at 4 months of age were randomized into the three groups: unilaterally nephrectomized,sham operated and naive rats. The nephrectomy was done at inclusion in the experiment and their blood was taken at inclusion and six months thereafter. Results There was a significant increase in serum creatinine concentrations six months after unilateral nephrectomy (39.7±0.8 µmol/l) in comparison with the sham operated (30.1±1.1 µmol/l) and the naive rats (26.3±3 µmol/l) (p?0.001). Serum sodium levels remained unchanged (p=0.116). Blood haemoglobin concentrationdid not differ between the three groups (p=0.115). Conclusion Although it has been very well established that kidney possesses huge capacity to compensate severe loss of renal mass, our results implicate that renal function undergoes significant deteriorationwith time after unilateral nephrectomy. Fortunately, in everyday clinical practice we do not see severe renal dysfunction in patients with a single kidney. However, prolongation of the human life span in the future could face us with renal impairment in living kidney donors. Future examination of specific biomarkers in our rat model (e.g. growth factors) could support our findings.