Partial renal papillectomy and the study of drug induced renal papillary necrosis in the rat.

A technique is described for the surgical excision of the renal papillary tip from the rat kidney. The method employed does not interrupt the blood supply nor does it change the morphology of the remainder of the renal tissue. The function of the partially papillectomized kidney has been found to be similar to that of the intact organ. When N-phenyl anthranilic acid, an agent known to cause necrosis of the renal papillary tip, was administered to rats, necrosis developed in the intact right kidney but not in the left partially papillectomized kidney. The cortical and outer medullary changes which occur with renal papillary necrosis when high doses of the nephrotoxin are given, were not seen in the papillectomized kidney. The significance of these findings and their relationship to analgesic nephropathy are discussed.