Effects of Unilateral Nephrectomy and Mixed Infection on Blood Pressure of Rats with Experimental Chronic Pyelonephritis

Chronic pyelonephritis resulting from a mixed infection was produced in rats. They displayed marked hyposthenuria and azotemia and, on pathologic examination at the end of one year, revealed severe contraction and scarring of the kidneys. Hypertensive vascular disease did not develop even in rats with unilateral nephrectomy, although some animals succumbed to renal failure. The results indicate that parenchymal renal injury from chronic renal infection, even when it results from mixed infection and is associated with a decrease in renal mass, does not result in hypertensive disease. It is suggested that this is due to the absence of a vascular lesion producing renal ischemia.