Measurement of aortic blood flow by Doppler echocardiography: day to day variability in normal subjects and applicability in clinical research

To assess the reliability of Doppler ultrasound for detecting serial changes in cardiac output in response to experimental interventions, the day to day variability of the minute distance of aortic flow was determined in seven normal subjects maintained in a tightly controlled environment with regard to diet and activities. Measurements were made at the same time on 5 to 6 sequential days from an apical window with use of both continuous wave and pulsed wave Doppler techniques. Two statistical measures of reliability were calculated, the intraclass coefficient of correlation (R), which varies between 0 (null reliability) and +1 (perfect reliability), and the 95% confidence interval for the error-free value of a single measurement. For sequential measurements of arterial pressure, 24 h urinary volume and sodium excretion and body weight, the intraclass coefficients of correlation ranged from 0.85 to 0.99, indicating low day to day variability consistent with tight environmental control. Continuous and pulsed wave modes were proved equally and highly reliable for measuring minute distance of aortic flow. However, continuous wave Doppler ultrasound provided acceptable signals more frequently than did the pulsed wave technique. For continuous wave Doppler ultrasound, R was 0.87 (p less than 0.00001); the 95% confidence interval was +/- 1.81 m/min (or 11% of the mean of all measurements), which indicates that this method can be used in a single individual to detect a greater than 11% change in minute distance measured once before and after an intervention.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Normal diet NaCl variation can affect the renal set-point for plasma pH-(HCO3-) maintenance

In humans who are ingesting abundant NaCl, blood pH (pHb) and plasma bicarbonate concentration [HCO3-)p) change little or imperceptibly in response to the ingestion of alkali salts. We tested the hypothesis that such tight homeostatic regulation is an artifact of eating a culturally imposed NaCl-enriched diet, not a fundamental physiological trait of humans. In five normal men ingesting a constant acid-producing diet with a low intrinsic NaCl content (0.15 mEq/kg of body weight per day), we measured plasma and urine acid-base composition during four 7-day periods in which the diet was supplemented as follows: no supplements----NaHCO3 only----NaHCO3 plus NaCl----NaCl only. Each sodium supplement was 2.0 mmol/kg body weight per day. With no supplements, pHb was 7.43 +/- 0.005 and (HCO3-)p was 25.0 +/- 0.4 mEq/L. When NaHCO3 only was added, pHb rose 0.02 (to 7.45 +/- 0.004; P less than 0.01) and (HCO3-)p rose nearly 4 mEq/L (to 28.9 +/- 0.6 mEq/L, P less than 0.001). The rise in (HCO3-)p was sustained predominantly by an increased rate of renal bicarbonate reabsorption. When NaCl was added, (HCO3-)p returned to the earlier level, despite continued NaHCO3 supplementation (24.9 +/- 0.6 mEq/L), and remained there when NaHCO3 supplementation was subsequently stopped (24.1 +/- 0.5 mEq/L). Thus, tight homeostatic regulation of plasma acid-base composition in response to a change in dietary base occurred only when dietary NaCl was abundant. To our knowledge, this is the first study in normal humans that demonstrates that diet NaCl variations within the normal range significantly influence plasma acid-base composition.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Dietary potassium influences kidney maintenance of serum phosphorus concentration

In studying the metabolic effects of diet potassium (K+) variation in normal humans, we noted that varying diet K+ within its normal range influenced inorganic phosphorus (Pi) homeostasis and serum calcitriol (1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D) levels. In six men who ingested a constant whole-foods diet containing (per 70 kg body wt) 27 mmol/day Pi and 52 mEq/day K+, we increased diet K+ to 156 mmol/day with supplements first of potassium bicarbonate (KHCO3) alone and then of potassium chloride (KCL) alone, each for eight days interrupted by an eight-day recovery period of no K+ supplement. Urine Pi decreased promptly with either K(+)-salt, each inducing a persisting retention of 7 to 10 mmoles Pi, which was dumped during recovery. Fasting serum [Pi] increased with either K+ supplement (P = 0.022, repeated measures analysis of variance); the composite mean serum [Pi] for the two K(+)-supplement periods exceeded that for the two periods without supplements (P less than 0.01, paired t-test). Conversely, the concentrations of serum calcitriol decreased with either K+ supplement (P = 0.020). Among subjects, the diet K(+)-induced increases in serum [Pi] correlated with those in plasma [K+] (r = 0.64, P = 0.027); the decreases in serum calcitriol concentration correlated with the increases in serum [Pi] (r = -0.69, P = 0.014). There were no significant differences among periods in serum parathyroid hormone, ionized calcium, urine cyclic AMP excretion, plasma renin activity, body weight, serum albumin, or creatinine clearance; plasma volume decreased slightly during KCL but not during KHCO3 periods.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Serial assessment of glomerular filtration rate in lupus nephropathy

In patients with lupus nephropathy (LN), previous studies have shown that creatinine clearance (CCr) overestimates true glomerular filtration rate as measured by inulin clearance (CIn), and that among patients the degree of overestimation is highly variable. We sought to determine whether the discrepancy between CCr and CIn remains constant over time (months, years) in each individual patient, and therefore whether serial measurements of CCr reliably reflect the direction and magnitude of change in CIn. Twenty-five patients with LN underwent simultaneous determinations of CCr and CIn performed two to four (mean 3.3) times over three years. In a given patient, it was found that the ratio of CCr/CIn changed substantially over time (mean SD 0.16 with 95% confidence interval of 0.12 to 0.20). Thus, in about 32% of cases the ratio of CCr/CIn will vary more than +/- 16% from a previously measured value of CCr/CIn. Patients with both high and low values of CIn showed similar variability in CCR/CIn over time. Variability in CCr/CIn was found regardless of whether CIn was increasing, decreasing, or constant over time. In nearly one-half of all measurements of CCr, the corresponding change in CIn was directionally discordant. Iothalamate and technetium-DTPA renal clearances correlated highly with CIn (R2 = 0.99). We conclude that the discrepancy between CCr and CIn can vary greatly over time in an individual patient. Consequently, serial CCr does not accurately measure the direction or magnitude of change in glomerular filtration rate in lupus nephropathy.

Food chloride distribution in nature and its relation to sodium content

Because of growing interest in the biological and clinical effects of dietary chloride as the anion accompanying the dietary cation sodium and because the standard food composition tables used in the United States to estimate sodium content do not contain data on chloride content, we analyzed the nutrient data base of the English workers Paul and Southgate, which contains an extensive listing of both chloride and sodium contents in foods. To examine food chloride distribution in nature, we focused on the uncooked, unadulterated, discrete, primitive foods in the data base (no. = 216 food items). The findings indicate the existence of both a large variability of chloride content among foods and a high degree of coupling of chloride with sodium. The contents of chloride and sodium varied over a similarly large range (coefficients of variation, 229% vs. 263%), differed very little from each other on the average (less than 20%), and correlated (r = 0.84, p less than 0.001) to the extent that greater than two-thirds of the overall variation of chloride content was linked to that of sodium content. Those findings accord with the often posited but untested assertion that the chloride content of foods approximates and parallels that of sodium.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Dietary NaCl determines severity of potassium depletion-induced metabolic alkalosis

It is uncertain whether, in humans, potassium depletion can cause or sustain metabolic alkalosis of clinically important degree in the absence of coexisting known alkalosis-producing conditions. Previously we found, in normal humans ingesting abundant NaCl, that dietary K+ depletion alone can induce and sustain a small decrease in blood acidity and increase in plasma bicarbonate concentration; we hypothesized that more severe alkalosis was prevented by mitigating mechanisms initiated by renal retention of dietary NaCl that was induced by K+ depletion. To ascertain the acid-base response to dietary K+ depletion under conditions in which the availability of NaCl for retention is greatly limited, in the present study of six normal men we restricted dietary K+ as in the previous study except that intake of NaCl was maintained low (2 to 7 mEq/day, Low NaCl Group) instead of high (126 mEq/day, High NaCl Group). Plasma acid-base composition and renal net-acid excretion (NAE) did not differ significantly between groups during the control period. In the steady state of K+ depletion (days 11 to 15 of K+ restriction), neither plasma K+ concentration (2.9 +/- 0.9 mEq/liter vs. 3.0 +/- 0.1 mEq/liter) nor cumulative K+ deficit (399 +/- 59 mEq vs. 466 +/- 48 mEq) differed significantly between groups. During K+ restriction, persisting metabolic alkalosis developed in both groups, which was more severe in the Low NaCl Group: increment in [HCO3-]p, 7.5 +/- 1.0 mEq/liter versus 2.0 +/- 0.3 mEq/liter, P less than 0.001; decrement in [H+]p, 5.5 +/- 0.6 nEq/liter versus 2.9 +/- 0.4 nEq/liter, P less than 0.003. A significantly more severe alkalosis in the Low NaCl Group was evident at all degrees of K+ deficiency achieved during the course of the 15 days of K+ restriction, and the severity of alkalosis in the Low NaCl Group correlated with the degree of K+ deficiency. During the generation of alkalosis (days 1 to 7 of K+ restriction), NAE increased in the Low NaCl Group whereas it decreased in the High NaCl Group. During the maintenance of alkalosis (days 11 to 15), NAE stabilized in both groups after it returned to values approximating the control values. In both groups, urine Cl- excretion decreased during K+ restriction even though Cl- intake had not been changed, with the result that body Cl- content increased negligibly in the Low NaCl Group (28 +/- 6 mEq) and substantially in the High NaCl Group (355 +/- 64 mEq).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Adrenocortical hormone secretory response to chronic NH4Cl-induced metabolic acidosis

We examined the effect of chronic metabolic acidosis on adrenocortical hormone production by administering NH4Cl for 5 days to four normal subjects. Plasma aldosterone concentration, aldosterone secretion, and urinary excretion of aldosterone-18-glucuronide increased significantly, whereas there were no significant changes in the plasma concentrations of cortisol, corticosterone, or deoxycorticosterone, or in the urinary excretion of 17-hydroxycorticoids. By day 2, plasma renin activity (PRA) and concentration (PRC) were not significantly different from control, and the slope of the regression line relating plasma aldosterone concentration to PRA was significantly greater than the slope in the control period, i.e., the sensitivity of aldosterone secretion to renin stimulation was increased. By day 5, however, PRA and PRC were increased above control. Plasma potassium concentration did not change significantly. Thus chronic NH4Cl-induced acidosis induces a sustained stimulation of aldosterone secretion in the absence of a change in adrenocorticotropin-dependent adrenocortical hormone secretion. Factors other than an increase in renin secretion and plasma potassium concentration may be involved in at least the early phase of aldosterone stimulation, suggesting that plasma hydrogen ion concentration might be a separate regulator of aldosterone secretion.

Reduced glomerular filtration rate can maintain a rise in plasma bicarbonate concentration in humans

In humans, deficiency of chloride and potassium were found to perpetuate the hyperbicarbonatemia that attends metabolic alkalosis induced by gastric aspiration partly by increasing renal bicarbonate reabsorption, commensurate with the attendant increase in filtered bicarbonate load, and partly by decreasing glomerular filtration rate (GFR), which minimizes the degree of which the filtered bicarbonate load increases and thereby minimizes the requisite increase in bicarbonate reabsorption. The relative contribution of stimulated renal bicarbonate reabsorption might increase, however, if the supply of extrarenal bicarbonate is increased, in which case a greater degree of hyperbicarbonatemia would be sustained. To investigate that possibility, we reexamined the mechanism of perpetuation of gastric alkalosis in normal subjects eating a low NaCl diet supplemented with bicarbonate salts. Prior to gastric aspiration, plasma bicarbonate concentration ([HCO3]p) and pH were higher than in similarly studied subjects not receiving bicarbonate: 29.9 +/- 0.6 vs. 25.3 +/- 0.1 and 7.43 +/- 0.008 vs. 7.41 +/- 0.002 mEq/l, respectively. With continued bicarbonate supplementation, gastric aspiration induced a further significant increase (p less than 0.05) in [HCO3]p of 10.8%, to values not significantly different from those in nonbicarbonate-loaded subjects with gastric alkalosis: 33.2 +/- 1.2 mEq/l. GFR decreased significantly by 8.4% (from 98 +/- 4 to 90 +/- 3 ml/min, p less than 0.025), offsetting nearly commensurately the increase in [HCO3]p so that total bicarbonate reabsorption was not significantly increased (2.90 +/- 0.12 vs. 2.97 +/- 0.19 mEq/min, p = NS).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Effects of dietary potassium depletion and mineralocorticoid excess on renal Cl-conservation in the dog

Preexisting dietary K+ depletion (KD) in dogs exaggerates the renal acid excretory response to mineralocorticoid hormone (MCH) and attenuates the renal Cl- reabsorptive response without altering the Na+ reabsorptive response. The exaggerated acid excretory response has been postulated to be an electrophysiological consequence of a defect in renal Cl- reabsorption caused by KD. To investigate the specific effects of KD on renal Cl- transport in dogs, we assessed renal Cl- conservation during dietary Cl- restriction in KD adrenalectomized dogs maintained on physiological replacement doses of MCH. After a 16-day period of dietary K+ restriction and physiological MCH replacement, reduction of dietary NaCl from 5.0 to 0.25 mmol X kg-1 X 24 h-1 was attended by reduction in urinary Cl- excretion to values less than intake and to significantly lower values than in K+ -replete controls. In a subsequent experimental period of continued Cl- restriction and administration of DOC (15 mg/24 h, i.m.), urinary Cl- excretion decreased further in both groups to stable values, but the values were significantly greater in KD (2.7 +/- 0.4 vs. 1.1 +/- 0.1 meq/24 h, P less than 0.05) and the cumulative retention of urinary Cl- was significantly less (10.3 +/- 1.4 vs. 29.5 +/- 6.7 meq, P less than 0.05). These findings demonstrate that preexisting dietary KD accelerates chronic renal Cl- conservation in response to dietary Cl- restriction under conditions in which MCH supply is normal and fixed but that it impairs maximal renal Cl- -conserving ability in response to MCH excess.

Reduced glomerular filtration and enhanced bicarbonate reabsorption maintain metabolic alkalosis in humans

The mechanism that sustains chloride-depletion metabolic alkalosis is presumed to be a stimulation of renal acidification, so that the elevated filtered bicarbonate load that attends hyperbicarbonatemia is completely reabsorbed. However, such enhancement of renal bicarbonate reabsorption is not necessary to maintain hyperbicarbonatemia if the filtered bicarbonate load is not increased owing to a concomitant reduction in glomerular filtration rate (GFR). To assess the relative contributions of enhanced renal bicarbonate reabsorption and reduced GFR in the maintenance of chloride-depletion alkalosis in humans, selective hydrochloric acid depletion was induced in five normal subjects. Plasma bicarbonate concentration increased by 27% (25.3 +/- 0.1 to 32.1 +/- 0.3 mEq/liter, P less than 0.005), whereas the rate of renal bicarbonate reabsorption increased by only 17% (2.7 +/- 0.1 to 3.2 +/- 0.2 mEq/min, P less than 0.05) owing to a 10% reduction in GFR (93.2 +/- 4.4 to 84.3 +/- 4.1 ml/min, P less than 0.01). Thus, in chloride-depletion metabolic alkalosis in humans, the increase in plasma bicarbonate concentration is not attended by a commensurate increase in filtered bicarbonate and rate of renal bicarbonate reabsorption. Both a reduction in GFR and an enhancement of renal bicarbonate reabsorption contribute to maintenance of the alkalotic state.

Effect of extracellular fluid volume depletion on renal regulation of acid-base and potassium equilibrium during prolonged mineral acid administration

Previous studies of the renal and systemic acid-base response to prolonged administration of mineral acids in dogs have suggested that during the steady state of acidosis, the level at which plasma bicarbonate concentration is regulated by the kidney is dependent on the degree of augmentation of "distal delivery" of sodium imposed by the increased filtered load of administered mineral acid anion with filtered sodium, and on the degree of augmentation of "distal avidity" for sodium reabsorption imposed by ECF volume ( ECFV ) contraction secondary to renal sodium losses accompanying the administered mineral acid anion. This formulation, however, fails to predict the level at which plasma bicarbonate concentration would be regulated under conditions of preexisting ECFV depletion, which would simultaneously limit distal delivery of sodium salts and yet increase distal avidity for sodium reabsorption. Our studies assessed the renal and systemic acid-base responses to prolonged daily administration of 5.0 mEq/kg of H+ as HCl (groups 1 and 2) or H2SO4 (groups 3 and 4) in dogs with normal ECFV (groups 1 and 3) vs. preexisting ECFV depletion (groups 2 and 4) induced by administration of ethacrynic acid. In response to HCl administration, dogs with depleted ECFV developed more severe acidosis than ECFV -replete dogs (delta[HCO-3,]p, -5.0 +/- 0.6 mEq/L, group 2 vs. -2.7 +/- 0.5 mEq/L, group 1, p less than 0.02). The exacerbated metabolic acidosis in group 2 persisted in the steady state, even though the steady-state net systemic acid load was not greater than in group 1. No exacerbation of acidosis was observed in H2SO4-fed dogs with depleted ECFV . In response to either HCl or H2SO4, persistent hypokalemia caused by increased renal potassium clearance occurred in ECFV -replete dogs but not in ECFV -depleted dogs. Our results indicate that preexisting ECFV depletion results in impaired renal hydrogen ion secretion during prolonged HCl feeding, but not during H2SO4 feeding. These results suggest that during prolonged HCl loading under conditions of preexisting ECFV depletion, hypovolemia-mediated restriction of the normal augmentation of distal delivery of sodium salts overrides the effects of enhanced distal cation secretory capacity that attends hypovolemia-mediated augmentation of distal avidity for sodium reabsorption.

Amelioration of metabolic acidosis by dietary potassium restriction in hyperkalemic patients with chronic renal insufficiency

Hyperkalemia has been implicated in the pathogenesis of metabolic acidosis in chronic renal insufficiency because acidosis is ameliorated after administration of medications that correct hyperkalemia: mineralocorticoids, diuretics, intestinal K+-binding agents. However, the acidosis-ameliorating effect of these medications may be a consequence not of their ability to correct hyperkalemia, but of their ability to directly stimulate renal or intestinal excretion of acid. To investigate the specific effect of correcting hyperkalemia, balance studies were performed wherein hyperkalemia was corrected solely by restriction of dietary K+ in three patients with moderate chronic renal insufficiency (Ccreat 36, 44, and 58 ml/min/1.73 m2, respectively). Reduction of K+ intake was effected by substitution of Na+ for K+ in the electrolyte supplement to a whole-food diet of low K+ content. This maneuver resulted in correction of hyperkalemia and sustained amelioration of metabolic acidosis in each patient. Net acid excretion increased only transiently, and not enough to fully account for the magnitude of the increment in plasma [HCO3-], suggesting that an extrarenal mechanism of HCO3- input to the systemic circulation was the major factor that ameliorated the systemic acidosis. Evidence of an extrarenal mechanism was obtained only during the phase of decreasing plasma [K+]. Subsequently, during sustained normokalemia, the increased plasma [HCO3-] was maintained as a consequence of a sustained increase in total renal H+ secretion, evidenced by complete reabsorption of the increased filtered load of HCO3- and no reduction in net acid excretion from control values. These results indicate that in some patients with moderate chronic renal insufficiency, metabolic acidosis is ameliorated when hyperkalemia is corrected by restriction of dietary K+ (Na+ substitution) without otherwise changing diet composition and without administration of medication. Amelioration of the acidosis is predominantly effected by extrarenal mechanisms, and is sustained by an increase in the set point at which plasma [HCO3-] is regulated by the kidney.

Amelioration of hyperchloremic acidosis with furosemide therapy in patients with chronic renal insufficiency and type 4 renal tubular acidosis

In hypoaldosteronemic patients with chronic renal insufficiency, administration of a mineralocorticoid steroid such as fludrocortisone can ameliorate hyperkalemia and metabolic acidosis, but this therapy is not always safe owing to the deleterious consequences of extracellular fluid volume expansion resulting from mineralocorticoid-induced sodium chloride retention. In the present study of 8 patients with renal hyperchloremic acidosis, mild hyperkalemia and chronic glomerular insufficiency, we evaluated the therapeutic effect of chronic administration of a natriuretic/chloruretic agent, furosemide, a renoactive drug that is known to increase renal acid excretion in experimental animals without increasing body content of sodium chloride. 4 patients had hyporeninemic hypoaldosteronism. During 8 days of treatment in 6 patients who received furosemide alone, metabolic acidosis was significantly ameliorated. Urinary net acid excretion increased, except in the 2 patients who had the most severe hypoaldosteronism. For the group as a whole, the cumulative change in net acid excretion correlated positively with the rate of aldosterone excretion (r = 0.94, p less than 0.01). Thus, the aciduric response to furosemide is attenuated by aldosterone deficiency. When furosemide was administered in combination with fludrocortisone (4 subjects), an amelioration of metabolic acidosis occurred that was greater than that observed in the group treated with furosemide alone. Combined therapy ameliorated acidosis in the patient with the most severe degree of hypoaldosteronism, the same patient in whom administration of furosemide without fludrocortisone was ineffective even after 6 months of treatment. The findings in this study indicate that chronic furosemide therapy, alone or in combination with fludrocortisone, is a safe and effective means of ameliorating metabolic acidosis in patients with chronic renal insufficiency, including those with hypoaldosteronism.

Renal tubular acidosis induced by dietary chloride

Previous studies have demonstrated that dietary intake of anions with high renal reabsorbability (Cl- greater than SO4=) can result in either exacerbation of chronic metabolic acidosis or correction of chronic metabolic alkalosis. These results, however, fail to predict the renal acid-base response to Cl- administration when systemic acid-base composition is initially normal, but accompanied by an extracellular fluid (ECF) volume-mediated renal avidity for Cl- reabsorption; that is, the renal options include HCl retention, KCl retention, and phosphaturia. Accordingly, the present metabolic balance studies evaluated the response to substitution of dietary Cl- (2.5 mEq/kg/day) for Pi in five dogs previously ECF-depleted with diuretics and maintained on a dietary K+ supplement, 5.0 mEq/kg daily as neutral Pi (electrolyte-free diet) during a steady-state control period. Dietary Cl- resulted in a decrease in arterial plasma [HCO3-] from 21.2 +/- 0.7 to 17.8 +/- 0.8 mEq/liter, (P less than 0.01) and increase in [H+] from 38.5 +/- 0.7 to 43.3 +/- 0.8 nEq/liter (P less than 0.001). Urine pH increased (P less than 0.01), the cumulative change in net acid excretion decreased (-79 mEq, P less than 0.05), and Cl- retention (39 mEq, P less than 0.05) occurred. No change in Na+, K+, or Pi excretion occurred. The renal acidosis was fully corrected when SO4= was substituted for dietary Cl- and redeveloped when Cl- was resubstituted . Superimposition of a large oral buffer load (creatinine) did not ameliorate Cl- -induced renal acidosis. The results indicate that dietary reabsorbable anions can result in renal acidosis when Cl- reabsorption is stimulated and suggest that anion reabsorbability characteristics and not anion buffer properties are responsible.

Effect of diet on plasma acid-base composition in normal humans

Steady-state plasma and urine acid-base composition was assessed in 19 studies of 16 normal subjects who ingested constant amounts of one of three diets that resulted in different rates of endogenous noncarbonic acid production (EAP) within the normal range. Renal net acid excretion (NAE) was used to quantify EAP since the two variables are positively correlated in normal subjects. A significant positive correlation was observed between plasma [H+] and plasma PCO2, and between plasma [HCO3-] and plasma PCO2, among the subjects. Multiple correlation analysis revealed a significant interrelationship among plasma [H+], plasma PCO2, and NAE (r = 0.71, P less than 0.001), and among plasma [HCO3-], plasma PCO2, and NAE (r = 0.77, P less than 0.001). The partial correlation coefficients indicated a significant positive correlation between plasma [H+] and NAE, and a significant negative correlation between plasma [HCO3-] and NAE, when plasma PCO2 was held constant. These findings indicate that two factors influence the level at which plasma [H+] is maintained in normal subjects: (1) the steady-state rate of endogenous noncarbonic acid production, and (2) the setpoint at which plasma PCO2 is regulated by the respiratory system. Plasma [HCO3-] is also co-determined by these two factors. In disease states, therefore, both factors must be known before a disturbance in acid-base homeostasis can be excluded.

Metabolic alkalosis in models of primary and secondary hyperparathyroid states

Hyperchloremic metabolic acidosis has been reported in clinical states of primary and secondary hyperparathyroidism (HPT). Acute administration of parathyroid hormone (PTH) decreases renal acidification in humans and dogs, but the renal and systemic acid-base effects of chronic HPT have not been extensively investigated. In chronically thyroparathyroidectomized (TPTX) dogs (group I), bPTH 1-5 U/kg twice daily resulted in sustained hypophosphatemia, hypercalcemia, and Cl- -resistant metabolic alkalosis that was of renal origin at least in part: delta [HCO3-]p + 4.1 +/- 0.8 meq/liter, P less than 0.01; delta [H+]p -4 +/- 1 neq/liter, P less than 0.001, days 10-12. The cumulative change (sigma delta) in net acid excretion (NAE) was +44 meq (day 9, P less than 0.05). Similarly, metabolic alkalosis of renal origin, at least in part, occurred when PTH was administered by chronic continuous intravenous infusion (group II). Since chronic administration of calcitriol in dogs results in metabolic alkalosis, plasma calcitriol concentration was measured and found not to be increased by chronic intravenous PTH administration. In intact dogs (group III), a continuous chronic intravenous infusion of the Ca2+ chelator, Na4EGTA (3.0 mmol/kg daily), substituted for an equimolar amount of prechelated EGTA (CaNa2EGTA), resulted in a model of hypocalcemic HPT and severe Cl- -resistant metabolic alkalosis: delta [HCO3-]p +9.1 +/- 1.9 meq/liter, P less than 0.05; delta [H+]p -5 +/- 1 neq/liter, P less than 0.01, days 6-8. NAE decreased significantly. Thus, whereas metabolic alkalosis induced by PTH administration could be accounted for by increased NAE (group I), EGTA-induced metabolic alkalosis was accounted for by an extrarenal mechanism of base input to extracellular fluid (group III). Neutralization of the extrarenal base input by chronic administration of HCl during the period of EGTA-induced HPT did not preclude the development of metabolic alkalosis (group V), suggesting that a renal component was present in EGTA-induced metabolic alkalosis as well as in models of primary HPT (groups I and II). During the steady state, in this group as in the groups administered PTH, the net endogenous load of acid to the systemic circulation requiring renal excretion was unchanged from control, as indicated by stable values of NAE not significantly different from control. Yet metabolic alkalosis persisted in the steady state.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Incidence of radiographically evident bone disease, nephrocalcinosis, and nephrolithiasis in various types of renal tubular acidosis

The syndrome of renal tubular acidosis has been categorized into three physiologic types that have different clinical findings and prognostic and therapeutic implications. We reviewed radiographs of the skeleton and kidneys in 92 patients (56 children and 36 adults) with renal tubular acidosis in order to determine whether the radiologic findings could be related to the type of syndrome. Forty-four patients had Type 1 renal tubular acidosis, 18 had Type 2, and 30 had Type 4. Evidence of skeletal abnormalities was uncommon (17 per cent) and was confined to patients who had the Type 2 disorder or azotemia. The children with Type 2 and skeletal abnormalities had rickets; the adults had osteopenia without pseudofractures. Nephrocalcinosis was evident in approximately one fourth of the group (29 per cent) and was restricted to patients with the Type 1 syndrome. In patients with Type 4, osteopenia was evident in 12 per cent, all of whom were azotemic. Our observations indicate that the radiographic manifestations of renal tubular acidosis are influenced by the physiologic type of renal tubular acidosis.