Action of Splanchnic Nerves on Glomerular Blood Flow and Mechanism of Reflex Aneuria in Frog's Kidney. ∗

The present opinion of the splanchnic nerves upon the function of the kidney is that these sympathetic nerve fibers exert a primarily vascular effect and thus modify the size of the organ and its output of urine.

Experiments upon the living kidneys of Rana pipiens and Rana catasbiana in which the glomeruli were observed under the microscope by “Richards'Method” have shown the following findings:

1. Section of the splanchnics increases the number of glomeruli showing active blood flow.

2. Electrical stimulation of the peripheral end of the cut splanchnic trunks decreases the number of glomeruli showing active blood flow.

3. Electrical stimulation of the central ends of cut sensory nerves, the application of irritants to the ureter externally and internally and to the inside of the tubules, and the entrance of edema fluid into the general circulation, lead to decrease of glomerular blood flow.

4. The effects of the measures described in (3) are lost by section of the splanchnics or anesthesia of the part stimulated.

These results tend to support the current conception of the vascular effects of the splanchnic nerves upon the kidney, and to furnish an explanation for the genesis of reflex aneuria.