Renal effects of enflurane anesthesia in Fischer 344 rats with pre-existing renal insufficiency.

Chronic renal insufficiency was produced surgically in Fischer 344 rats in order to evaluate the effects of enflurane anesthesia in animals with impaired renal function. Three groups of rats were anesthetized with enflurane: a control group without impairment of renal function (n = 7); a group with minimal impairment of renal function (n = 6); and a group with moderately severe renal impairment (n = 9). Another group of rats with moderately severe renal impairment (n = 8) was anesthetized with halothane. Two hours of anesthesia resulted only in mild transient depression of urea clearance in all groups. Six hours of anesthesia resulted in a 5 to 10 ml/day increase of urinary output in all groups and small increases in urea nitrogen levels in both groups with moderately severe renal impairment. Deterioration of the model was noted late in the experiment; at sacrifice, animals that had been anesthetized with enflurance and four with halothane had terminal renal failure. The morphological lesion in both groups was similar, resembling glomerulonephritis. Thus, there was no difference in the renal response to enflurane or halothane anesthesia among rats with chronic renal insufficiency.