Rustom R, Costigan M, Shenkin A, Critchley M, Bone JM
Oral sodium bicarbonate suppresses renal tubular peptide catabolism, ammoniagenesis and reduces renal tubular injury in renal patients
33rd Congress of the Eur Dial Transplant Assoc
Nephrol Dial Transplant (Jun) 11:A141 1996

In a previous study in patients with nephrotic range proteinuria these authors showed that proximal tubular catabolism (estimated by measuring the renal degradation of 99mTc-Aprotinin) is markedly enhanced in these patients and that increased tubular catabolism is associated with raised NH3 excretion rate suggesting that increased tubular metabolism of filtered proteins may have deleterious effects on the tubule.

This study evaluates the effects of reducing ammoniagenesis by oral sodium bicarbonate supplements (for six weeks) on proximal renal tubular protein catabolism and tubular injury in patients with mild/moderate renal failure and nephrotic range proteinuria. Tubular injury was evaluated by measuring the tubulo-specific A2 isoenzyme of N-acetyl-glucose-aminidase (A2 NAG). Bicarbonate supplementation produced the expected fall in NH3 excretion rate (-72%) and caused a significant reduction in renal Aprotinin degradation (- 33%) and in A2 NAG excretion rate (-56%). The authors conclude that oral bicarbonate may have a protective effect on the proximal renal tubule and help to delay progression of renal disease.

Comment: Although of great potential interest, these data do not fit with the notion that patients with more pronounced acidosis (e.g. those with interstitial nephropathies) do not have an accelerated progression as compared with patients with other nephropathies. On the other hand, remnant rats do not show a slower progression of renal failure after bicarbonate supplements (Bruno Cianciaruso, M.D., University of Naples, Italy).

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33rd Congress of the Eur Dial Transplant Assoc
Nephrotic Syndrome : Pathogenesis, complications, RVT
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