Maia muscle fibre as a model for the study of uraemic toxicity

ONE of the major unsolved problems in clinical nephrolog is the way cellular electrolyte disturbances develop in uraemic patients. The studies of Bergstrom1 have shown abnormalities in the electrolyte content of the skeletal muscle of patients suffering from acute or chronic uraemia. Other lines of evidence suggesting toxic sequelae come from the studies of Kuroyanagi, Kurisu, Sugiyama and Saito2, Morgan and Morgan3, Giovannetti, Balestri and Cioni4, and Welt, Sachs and McManus5, using red blood cells. Welt et al. have found that the activity of the sodium–potassium–ATPase of erythrocytes obtained from uraemic subjects is reduced and the internal sodium concentration of these cells increased. This is the pattern that would be expected to accompany the direct action of toxins on the sodium transport system of erythrocytes.