TISSUE CHANGES IN THE NEPHROTIC SYNDROME: DEMONSTRATION OF POTASSIUM DEPLETION

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Abstract
Analyses of skeletal muscles, obtained at autopsy from six children with the nephrotic syndrome, reveal losses of from one fourth to two thirds of their potassium content per unit dry weight or cell solids. Their phosphorus content is only moderately reduced. These muscles have gained large amounts of water, sodium and chloride in ratios approximating extracellular fluid. The muscle values are compared with other types of potassium loss from muscle, e.g., after experimental potassium deprivation, desoxycorticosterone therapy, alkalosis and muscle trauma. Since potassium is the intracellular cation, its depletion may be associated with important effects on intracellular anions, enzymes or catalysts and, together with cellular hydration and hypotonicity, contribute to the physiologic alterations found in this syndrome. Analyses of kidneys from these patients reveal somewhat similar changes; liver, in contrast, showed minimal alteration.