A comparison of nephron number, glomerular volume and kidney weight in Senegalese Africans and African Americans

作者：McNamara Bridgette J; Diouf Boucar; Douglas Denton Rebecca N; Hughson Michael D; Hoy Wendy E; Bertram John F^*

来源：Nephrology Dialysis Transplantation, 2010, 25(5): 1514-1520.

DOI：10.1093/ndt/gfq030

• African Americans
• glomerular volume
• kidney weight
• nephron number
• Senegalese Africans

Methods. Unbiased stereology was used to determine N(glom) and V(glom) in kidneys collected at coronial autopsy in an age- and sex-matched sample of 39 adult Africans from Dakar in Senegal, West Africa and 39 African Americans from Mississippi in the USA.
Results. African Americans were taller and heavier than their Senegalese counterparts. N(glom) was remarkably similar-with a geometric mean of 937 967 in Senegalese and 904 412 in African Americans (P = 0.62). V(glom) was correlated inversely with N(glom) and directly with body surface area in both groups, but V(glom) was 54% greater in African Americans than in Senegalese Africans [8.30 +/- 2.92 (SD) and 5.38 +/- 1.25 mu m(3) x 10(6), respectively] and remained significantly larger (38%) after adjustment for body size. V(glom) increased with age in African Americans, but not in the Senegalese. Kidney weight was larger in African Americans (P < 0.0001), but kidney-to-body weight ratio was not different between groups.
Conclusions. Despite similar nephron numbers, a common genetic constitution, and even in relation to current body size, African Americans have larger V(glom) than Senegalese subjects. This may mark exposure to environmental stressors or hereditary traits concentrated in the population's relocation to North America.

• 出版日期2010-5