The Renal Blood Flow 89 



Under adrenin the renal plasma flow in this subject was 

 decreased from the basal value by 20 per cent, while during 

 hyperemia the renal plasma flow was increased over the basal 

 by 74 per cent. In spite of these marked changes glucose-Tm 

 and diodrast-Tm showed only slight and perhaps insignificant 

 changes."' The same may be said of other observations of this 

 type on normal subjects. Our conclusions on this matter 

 must be considered as tentative, but our results to date show 

 that adrenin in substantial therapeutic doses does not close 

 the glomeruli of the human kidney.^ Under the action of this 

 hormone there is a slight but consistent increase in diodrast- 

 Tm, maximally about 15 per cent; if this is confirmed in 

 further observations it suggests that during constriction of 

 the glomerular arterioles blood may be deflected into peritu- 

 bular capillaries in which the flow has previously been con- 

 siderably below the average. During hyperemia, on the other 

 hand, neither glucose-Tm nor diordast-Tm show changes be- 

 yond the limits of the possible error. These observations need 

 to be expanded, and for the moment it is best simply to em- 

 phasize the smallness of the changes in any instance. As they 

 stand the results indicate that all the glomeruli in the normal 

 human kidney are active under basal conditions, in the sense 

 that in no appreciable number is the rate of filtration sub- 

 stantially less than the average ; and that nearly all the tubules 

 are irrigated with an adequate supply of blood, in the sense 



*The average rectal temp>erature under basal conditions is 98.5°F.; during the pyro- 

 genic reaction, even after a prolonged course of amidopyrine, the temperature may rise 

 0.5 or 1 degree and this fact makes it necessary to apply a slight temperature correction. 

 We need to know more about the actual value of this temperature correction than we do 

 at the present time, but in this discussion the data are corrected on the assumption that 

 both gjlucose-Tm and diodrast-Tm increase by 10 per cent for each degree erf fever above 

 98.5°. 



fit may be remarked, however, that perhaps we should not expect to close a glomer- 

 ulus by constricting the efferent arteriole. 



