Abstract
Previously we have shown 1 that fresh macerated liver injected in a prescribed way stimulated hepatic regeneration. We have now obtained results which show that by the injection of macerated kidney the mitotic rate of the tubular epithelium may be increased. The stimulant effect appears in the averages. The causes of the individual variations were usually undetermined. The compilation (Fig. 1) includes all treated animals that lived 14 days. Many negative results obtained by methods other than those described and not included in this report, are as yet unexplained.
With a few exceptions the experimental rats weighed from 100 to 150 gm. Kidneys from somewhat larger rats were crushed in a mortar for intraperitoneal injection. Seven normal rats were injected with 2.5 gm. crushed kidney and killed on the fourteenth day. Eight other normal animals were injected on the first and fifth day with a total of 4.5 gm. and killed on the fourteenth day. In a second series a unilateral nephrectomy was performed; 14 of these were killed after 2 weeks. Thirteen nephrectomized animals were injected either once on the day after the operation or on the second and fifth day with autopsy on the fourteenth day.
Transverse sections were taken through the middle of the kidney and the number of the mitoses per section determined. The influence of the intraperitoneal injection is shown in the figure. Seven normal rats with one injection had an average of 4 mitoses per section and 8 with 2 injections had an average of 7.6 as compared with 0.75 in 50 normal untreated animals.
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