PATH: Tubulointerstitial Disease Flashcards
What is the most common cause of acute kidney injury?
ischemia
What is the most common histopathologic counterpart to actue kidney injury?
acute tubular necrosis
What are the common signs of acute kidney injury (plasma wise)?
Increase in Creatinine, BUN, and (usually) urea
What accounts for over 80% of acute kidney injury?
acute tubular necrosis
What are the underlying mechanisms for ATN?
Ischemia (75%)
Nephrotoxins
Urinary tract obstruction, glomerulonephritis, etc. (uncommon)
What is the most common cause of ischemia-induced ATN?
shock (septic)
Ischemia-induced ATN usually spares what portion of the kidney?
glomeruli (unless cortical necrosis which irreversibly kills glomeruli)
What is the most common nephrotoxin that leads to ATN?
radio contrast dye
True or false: ATN is reversible?
True! Though the tubular epithelial cells die, the basement membrane is preserved (contains stem cells) that can regenerate epithelial cells and restore the tubule fully (in 3-6 weeks)
What are the molecular mechanisms to injury in a post-ischemic kidney?
1) Arteriole vasoconstriction in response to increased tissue levels of endothelin, AngII, TXA2, PG, etc.
2) Decreased arteriole vasodilation in response to Ach, bradykinin, decreased NO.
Why do you see more vasoconstriction and less vasodilation in ATN?
Release of vasoactive cytokines (TNF-alpha, IL-1-beta, endothelin, etc.) during leukocyte mediated injury to endothelium
Ischemia can also lead to what sort of epithelial state?
pro-inflammatory and pro-coagulant
Why does edema occur in ATN? What does it cause?
Edema occurs due to inflammation and loss of tubular epithelial funciton (causing congestion that could compress and add to the regional hypoxia)
What does a gross kidney with ATN look like?
Enlarged, pale cortex, congested medulla near CMJ
What is the difference between ATN due to calcineurin toxicity and due to ethylene glycol toxicity under the microscope?
Ethylene glycol toxicity will have the cytoplasmic vacuolizaiton but will also have formation of oxalate crystals (translucent, wedge-shaped) in the tubular lumen
What are two early microscopic findings in ATN?
blebbing and loss of the brush border
What does later ATN look like microscopically?
Cogulative necrosis, epitehlial cells slough into lumen (becoming casts), and apoptosis occurs.
Other than “muddy brown casts,” what other type of casts may be seen in ATN?
Myoglobin casts (darkly eosinophilic) if necrosis of skeletal muscle precipitates into the renal tubule
What will the urinalysis of ATN show?
Low urine output Low urine specific gravity Low urine osmolarity High urine Na+ concentration Muddy brown casts
True or false: people with ATN will be hypertensive.
FALSE: not hypertensive (probably in shock)
True of false: people with ATN will be in metabolic acidosis.
True!
True or false: people with ATN will be hyperkalemic.
True! (and possibly hyponatremic)
How do you treat ATN?
Dialysis (but must first treat shock or whatever disease is going on!)
What supplies blood to the renal medulla?
vasa recta
What parts of the nephron have the highest energy demands?
straight PT and the TALH
Where is most of the blood in the medulla concentrated?
around the medullary TALH
What is the most hypoxic part of the kidney?
the medulla (10 mmHg pO2 compared to 50 mmHg pO2 in the cortex)