Renal hypertrophy in experimental diabetes mellitus

The kidney changes seen in rats shortly after the induction of experimental diabetes were reviewed: Kidney weight increases by 15 to 20% during the first 4 to 5 days of diabetes and by 70 to 90% after some weeks. GFR increases after a lag-time of some days in parallel to kidney weight. Morphometric analysis shows glomerular hypertrophy to be prominent during the first few days of diabetes. The glomerular filtration surface increases by 40% after 4 days. Diabetic renal hypertrophy is related to the severity of the diabetes, and kidney growth rate relates linearly to blood glucose. Moderate diabetes mellitus and unilateral nephrectomy have approximately the same effect on the kidney (weight increase 20%/4 days). When diabetes mellitus and nephrectomy are combined, renal growth rate almost doubles.