Nitrate, thiocyanate, and perchlorate clearance in relation to chloride clearance

¹ Department of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics and Department of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland

Simultaneous clearances of inulin, chloride, and nitrate, thiocyanate, or perchlorate were measured in salt-depleted dogs and/or dogs undergoing diuresis induced by mannitol, saline, or sulfate. A method for perchlorate determination in body fluids using methylene blue is given. Plots of excreted/filtered NO₃, SCN, or ClO₄ against excreted/filtered Cl were made for the present data and for data taken from the literature. All of the available nitrate data conform to a power function between these two variables with an exponent of .36–.38. Thiocyanate clearance was nearly equal to chloride clearance; during infusion of other foreign anions it was usually higher than chloride clearance. Perchlorate clearance was much higher than chloride clearance but varied with it. It is concluded that all of these anions may be reabsorbed passively and noncompetitively in the same portions of the nephron; distal active reabsorption may also play a role.

Key Words: chloride • renal tubule

Submitted on October 8, 1964