Oxygen Consumption and Sodium Reabsorption in the Kidney

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Abstract
Lassen N. A., O. Munck J. H. Thaysen. Oxygen consumption and sodium reabsorption in the kidney.Renal oxygen consumption can be divided into a small but constant basal oxygen uptake and a variable suprabasal or functional oxygen uptake. The basal oxygen consumption is defined as the oxygen uptake of the non‐filtering and hence non‐reabsorbing kidney. It was measured during marked hypotension and was found to amount to 1 μmole of O2 per gram kidney per minute. The suprabasal or functional oxygen consumption is defined as the total oxygen uptake minus the basal. It was measured on normally functioning kidneys and was found to correlate very closely with the quantity of sodium reabsorbed. For each mol of oxygen consumed in excess of basal requirements 28 sodium equivalents were reabsorbed. The hypothesis, that sodium reabsorption represents the main renal work is forwarded. It provides a simple explanation for the various classical observations on renal oxygen uptake and is in agreement with data on other electrolyte transporting tissues.