Comparative Effects of Parathyroid Extract and Turpentine Abscesses on the Serum Glycoproteins and the Polysaccharides of the Kidney

¹ From the Endocrinology and Bone Metabolism Section, Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, and the Departments of Biochemistry, Medicine, and Pathology, University of Oklahoma School of Medicine, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Studies were made of the time relationships existing between administration of parathyroid extract to rats, the elevation of serum glycoproteins and the deposition of polysaccharide and calcium in the kidney. Statistically significant elevations of seromucoid occured 18 hours after the injection of turpentine and 24 hours after the first injection of parathyroid extract. These data may indicate that the effects of parathyroid extracts and turpentine on seromucoid differ. Statistically significant elevations of the serum glycoproteins other than seromucoid occurred at 36 hours in both groups. The first histochemical changes in the kidney were noted 36 hours after the first injection of parathyroid extract. Intratubular lesions were noted which contained both calcium and material which stained with periodic-acid-Schiff reagent (PAS), colloidal iron and Alcian blue. Later (48 hr. after injection) another type of lesion which stained only with PAS and did not contain calcium was noted. Consequently, no definite evidence was found for the occurrence of a polysaccharide-containing lesion prior to calcification. Only cloudy swelling of the tubules was noted in the kidneys of rats injected with turpentine. Since the injection of turpentine resulted in elevated seromucoid and other serum glycoprotein levels, it is concluded that such elevations do not result per se in kidney damage.