Inflammatory changes in the kidney : an experimental study of the action of some toxines and poisons upon the kidney : and also upon the spleen

Abstract

The work, which forms the "basis of this paper, which I present as a Thesis for degree of M.D., has been done in the Pathological Laboratory of the University of Edinburgh. It was undertaken, on the suggestion of Professor Greenfield, and has been conducted entirely as an experimental research. Its primary object was to determine the earliest changes which occurred in the kidney in conditions of acute inflammation, and to ascertain if possible, the relationship between lesions of the blood vessels and those of the secreting structures. As the research advanced, the scope of the work was extended, for in the systematic examination of the other organs in the experimental animals, changes were found, especially in the spleen, which rendered it advisable to include this organ in the research.The pathogenesis of spontaneously arising kidney inflammation and the changes which it initiates, have long been the subject of much dispute. That this should be the case, is readily apparent when we consider, that in the study of human pathology an opportunity is rarely presented of studying the earliest changes in such inflammatory conditions. Most frequently, we have to study the organ in later and more advanced conditions of the lesions when it is often impossible to say what has been the exact evolution of the process. It was therefore deemed possible that the experimental method might be of some service, as we could thereby produce artificially, acute inflammatory conditions of the kidney by the introduction of certain poisons or toxic substances, and determine the earliest changes, and ascertain if possible, the relationship of these changes to each other. The phenomena of inflammation in the kidney are essentially of the same nature as in other tissues and organs, but we here have to deal with an organ which possesses a more complex structure. Then, now-a-days, in the consideration of this question, due regard must be given to the new ideas of phagocytosis and chemotaxis as developed and extended by Metchnikoff and his school, in addition to the vascular phenomena, which, since Cohnheiin enunciated his views on this subject, have been regarded until recent times as the essential characteristics.