MODELS USED TO ASSESS RENAL-FUNCTION

The kidney as a primary excretory organ is a major route of elimination for numerous xenobiotic agents. In the process, it is liable to the hemodynamic and injurious actions of drugs due to their concentration in the kidney. In this brief review, a number of methods for assessing kidney function (e.g., serum creatinine, enzymuria, inulin, and PAH clearances, etc.), with their advantages and limitations, are described. Various acute and chronic animal models (rats and dogs) commonly used in performing safety evaluation of drugs are described; several antihypertensive drugs are cited as examples. These models can be modified with varying number of measurements, depending on the pharmacological activity of test drugs, animal species, specific issues (e.g., vascular vs. tubular effects), pathophysiological conditions, etc. (C) 1994 Wiley-Liss, Inc.