The pentose phosphate pathway operates at an elevated level in rat kidney following induction of diabetes and in the compensatory hypertrophy following unilateral nephrectomy in control and alloxan-diabetic rats, as shown by the yields of 14Co2 from [1-14C]glucose, [6-14C]glucose and 3H2O yields from [2-3H]glucose. The elevated flux through the pentose phosphate pathway is correlated with the increased RNA content and weight of the kidney. The direct utilization of NADPH for reductive synthetic reactions and the potential for indirect utilization via the sorbitol route and the linked transhydrogenase reactions of the glucuronate-xylulose pathway, for NADH and ATP generation, are also discussed.
