LAUSR

INTRODUCTION AND AIMS: It has been suggested that individuals with a low nephron number may have an increased lifetime risk of hypertension or renal insufficiency, thereby emphasizing the importance of evaluating the total nephron number (TNN) in each individual. We recently reported the TNN in Japanese subjects to be significantly less than that observed in other races (JCI Insight. 2017). However, accurately estimating the TNN in humans requires detailed analyses of autopsy kidneys and it takes considerable time and effort. In recent years, simpler methods have been proposed for estimating the TNN in humans using both image analysis and kidney biopsy specimens, although the reproducibility and accuracy of such methods remain uncertain (KI 2010, JCI 2015, JASN 2017). The present study examined the TNN in Japanese subjects using the same procedure and the results were compared with those derived from a previous autopsy series using dissector/fractionator methods, which is the gold standard for estimating the TNN.