Renal function in single-kidney rats

Can a single kidney survive for a normal life span? This is the type of question frequently asked by patients and especially by parents of children who lose one kidney in early childhood. Based on our wide experience with single-kidney rats, we will try to give an answer to this question. After the removal of its counterpart, the single remaining kidney will rapidly adapt to the new situation by a compensatory increase in the glomerular filtration rate (GFR) and renal mass. This is true not only for intact kidneys but also for damaged ones. The GFR level obtained by damaged kidneys will be less than that of intact single kidneys, however, depending on the degree of initial damage. The GFR is stable for a certain period of time, which is longer for intact single kidneys than for damaged kidneys and also depends on the daily protein intake; after that renal function will deteriorate. This decline in GFR is preceded by a marked increase in urinary protein excretion. Although the follow-up period is not completed yet, the survival time of single intact kidneys in rats on a normal diet is expected to be 15%-20% less than the normal rat life span. In rats on a lifelong high protein intake the kidney survival time drops to 40% below the normal rat life span. In rats on a moderately reduced protein intake, however, single intact kidneys may survive for a normal life span. The situation is worse for single damaged kidneys. Depending on the severity of the initial damage, kidney survival time will be much less than a normal life span. We studied rats with an initial recovery to 75% of renal function. Despite this initial recovery, the animals died of renal failure within 50% of the expected life span. A low-protein diet prolonged the renal survival by about 12%, a high-protein diet shortened it by the same percentage.