Ideas in pathology. Exfoliation of renal tubular cells

"Acute tubular necrosis" is characterized histologically by tubular cell loss and nonreplacement. There is new evidence that tubular cells may be shed from the tubular basement membrane while still viable. This phenomenon is described in both clinical and experimental acute renal failure. Exfoliation of tubular cells may contribute importantly to the pathogenesis of acute renal failure due to tubular cell injury.