Construction of hemibladders and cutaneous vesicostomies for bilateral renal function studies. A new technique in...

A surgical technique for the construction of hemibladders and permanent cutaneous vesicostomies in Macaca arctoides is described. Serial studies of renal function were performed in sedated monkeys before and 1 or more months after division of the bladder. The results of the studies confirm our previous observation that renal function in monkeys is comparable to that in man and show that (i) the surgical procedure is successful in the majority of instances; (ii) simultaneous determinations of renal function of the right and left kidneys are comparable to function observed before dividing the bladder; and (iii) studies of function of the two kidneys may be repeated for 18 months or more and as often as three times a week. We conclude that the procedure provides an opportunity for prolonged observation of changes in renal function and morphology of a single experimentally manipulated kidney compared to (i) the normal function and morphology of the kidney before inducing disease and (ii) the function of a normal contralateral kidney.