Cardiovascular lesions in experimental acute and chronic renal failure in the rat

Adult Wistar rats were subjected to partial or total nephrectomy or injected with mercuric chloride to induce a state of acute or chronic renal failure. They developed sequential pathological changes in the cardiovascular system characterized by fibrin deposition in the pericardium and fibrinoid changes in many systemic arteries and arterioles. Focal myocardial necrosis and interstitial fibrosis were a feature of long term chronic renal failure. Increased vascular permeability was evident in the pericardium of rats with chronic renal failure especially when autologous blood was also injected into the pericardial sac of previously nephrectomized rats.