title: Bile acids in cholestasis: bad for the liver, not so good for the kidney.
abstract: The elegant paper by Fickert et al. on bile duct ligated mice provides convincing evidence for the hypothesis that bile acids retained in the serum during cholestasis and excreted through the kidneys are toxic to collecting duct cells. The authors propose that bile acids initiate a chain of reactions leading to tubulointerstitial nephritis and fibrosis. Mice with cholestasis were protected by prefeeding with the hydrophilic bile acid norursodeoxycholic acid, an observation which suggests a potential therapeutic option for cholemic nephropathy.
authors.affiliation: University of Paris 7, 75013 Paris, France. Electronic address: serge.erlinger@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Serge
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Erlinger
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001647:Bile Acids and Salts / Q000009:adverse effects*; D002779:Cholestasis / Q000150:complications*; D003135:Common Bile Duct; D007674:Kidney Diseases / Q000139:chemically induced*; D008297:Male
chemical_list: D001647:Bile Acids and Salts