title: Renal aquaporins and sodium transporters with special focus on urinary tract obstruction.
abstract: The discovery of aquaporin-1 (AQP1) by Agre and colleagues explained the long-standing biophysical question of how water specifically crosses biological membranes. These studies led to the discovery and identification of a whole new family of membrane proteins, the aquaporins. At present, at least seven aquaporins are expressed at distinct sites in the kidney and 4 members of this family (AQP1-4) have been demonstrated to play pivotal roles in the physiology and pathophysiology for renal regulation of body water balance. Osmotic equilibration via renal aquaporins is maintained by active transport of NaCl. The major sodium transporters and channels in the individual renal tubule segments have been identified and the regulation of these transporters and channels are fundamental for renal sodium reabsorption and for establishing the driving force. In this mini-review the role of renal aquaporins and sodium transporters and channels is briefly described and their key role for the impaired urinary concentrating capacity in response to urinary tract obstruction is reviewed. Thus this review updates previous detailed reviews (1-5).
authors.affiliation: Institute of Experimental Clinical Research, Water and Salt Research Centre, University of Aarhus, Denmark. JF@IEKF.AU.DK
authors.forename: Jørgen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Frøkiaer
authors.forename: Chunling
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Yimin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.forename: Anja
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Jensen
authors.forename: Helle
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Praetorius
authors.forename: Helle
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hansen
authors.forename: Oguz
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Topcu
authors.forename: Chrysanthi
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Sardeli
authors.forename: Weidong
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Tae-Hwan
authors.initials: TH
authors.lastname: Kwon
authors.forename: Søren
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nielsen
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D020346:Aquaporins / Q000502:physiology*; D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D007668:Kidney / Q000503:physiopathology*; D015222:Sodium Channels / Q000502:physiology*; D014570:Urologic Diseases / Q000503:physiopathology*; D014867:Water / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D020346:Aquaporins; D015222:Sodium Channels; D014867:Water