**1. Introduction**

20 Basic Nephrology and Acute Kidney Injury

Shuter, B. & Aslani, A. (2000). Body surface area: Du Bois and Du Bois revisited. *European Journal of Applied Pysiology*, Vol.82, No.3, (June 2000) pp.250-254, ISSN 1439-6319 Stevenson, P.H. (1937). Height-weight-surface formula for the estimation of body surface area in Chinese subjects. *The Chinese Journal of Physiology*, Vol.12, pp.327-334 Tanner, J.M. (1949). Fallacy of per-weight and per-surface area standards, and their relation

Taylor, F.B.; Drury, D.R. & Addis, T. (1923). The regulation of renal activity. VIII. The

Tikuisis, P.; Meunier, P. & Jubenville, C.E. (2001). Human body surface area: measurement

van der Sijs, H. & Guchelaar, H.J. (2002). Formulas for calculating body surface area. *The* 

Verbraecken, J.; Van de Heyning, P.; De Backer, W. & Van Gaal, L. (2006). Body surface area

Walser, M. (1990). Progression of chronic renal failure in man. *Kidney International*, Vol.37,

White, A.J. & Strydom, W.J. (1991). Normalisation of glomerular filtration rate

Yu, C.Y.; Lin, C.H. & Yang, Y.H. (2010). Human body surface area database and estimation

*Physiology*, Vol.85, No.3-4, (August 2001) pp.264-271, ISSN 1439-6319 Turner, S.T. & Reilly, S.L. (1995). Fallacy of indexing renal and systemic hemodynamic

2010) pp.65-71, ISSN 0085-2538

*Journal of Physiology*, Vol.65, pp.55-61

2, (April 1995) pp.R978-88, ISSN 0002-9513

Vol.55, No.4, (April 2006) pp.515-524, ISSN 0026-0495

No.5, (May 1990) pp.1195-1210, ISSN 0085-2538

2010) pp.616-629, ISSN 0305-4179

15, ISSN 0021-8987

0340-6997

children with chronic kidney disease. *Kidney International*, Vol.77, No.1, (January

to spurious correlation. *Journal of Applied Physiology*, Vol.2, No.1, (July 1949) pp.1-

relation between the rate of urea secretion and the size of the kidneys. *American* 

and prediction using three dimensional body scans. *European Journal of Applied* 

measurements for body surface area. *American Journal of Physiology*, Vol.268, No.4 Pt

*Annals of Pharmacotherapy*, Vol.36, No.2, (February 2002) pp.345-346, ISSN 1060-0280

in normal-weight, overweight, and obese adults. A comparison study. *Metabolism*,

measurements. *European Journal of Nuclear Medicine*, Vol.18, No.6, pp.385-390, ISSN

formula. *Journal of the International Society for Burn Injuries*, Vol.36, No.5, (August

Glomerular filtration rate (GFR) is considered as the best way to assess global renal function (Gaspari et al., 1997; Stevens & Levey, 2009). Even if GFR estimations (based on creatinine- or cystatin C-based equations) are most often used (see Table 1)(Cockcroft & Gault, 1976; Levey et al., 1999; Levey et al., 2006; Levey et al., 2009), measuring "true" GFR is still important in clinical practice, especially in particular patients (Delanaye et al., 2011a; Delanaye & Cohen, 2008; Stevens & Levey, 2009). In this chapter, we will review the different markers which can be considered as reference methods to measure GFR. Before moving to clinical trials, we have to recall the physiological characteristics of an ideal GFR marker.
