Myocardiac changes in experimental renal failure--a light and electron microscopic study.

The experiments we described in this paper demonstrated that the myocardiac lesions without hypertension could be produced by renal failure in rabbits; after this experimental renal failure, increase in blood urea nitrogen and various functional and morphological changes suggestive of heart lesions appeared. The main structural changes in the heart were cellular edema with dilatation of the sarcotubular system, destructive changes of the mitochondria and contractile elements, and coagulative degeneration. These myocardiac lesions are induced by renal failure, and are probably caused by electrolyte imbalance, metabolic disorder, and/or hemodynamic abnormality rather than by hypertensive or toxic factors.