Research
Sodium transport in Autosomal Recessive PKD epithelia
Polycystic kidney disease (PKD) is a common genetic disease that is
associated with a high morbidity and mortality. Autosomal dominant PKD
(ADPKD) affects ~1:1,000 while autosomal recessive PKD (ARPKD) affects
~1:20,000 live births. Approximately 50 percent of patients with ADPKD
develop end-stage renal disease (ESRD) by the sixth decade of life
while most infants with ARPKD that survive beyond the perinatal period
develop chronic renal failure by early adolescence. In PKD, cyst growth
and expansion destroys normal renal parenchyma and leads to renal
failure. ADPKD cysts arise from any tubular segment, "bud" off from the
nephron, and no longer communicate with the tubule from which they
originate. Cysts in ARPKD, however, are actually ectatic dilated
collecting ducts which remain contiguous with the filtering nephron,
allowing for urine to continue to flow through the dilated collecting
system.
Evidence from experimental ADPKD models and human disease suggests
that cyst formation and expansion arise, at least in part, from
transepithelial solute and fluid secretion. In contrast to the latter
observation, we have recently reported that ARPKD cystic collecting
ducts, at least early in disease, reabsorb Na. Patch clamp analysis
showed that apical Na channel activity in ARPKD cells is ~2 fold
greater than that detected in age-matched human fetal collecting tubule
(HFCT) cells. The additional observation that steady state expression
levels of the and subunits of the apical epithelial Na channel (ENaC),
the rate limiting step in Na absorption in the collecting duct, are
higher in ARPKD than HFCT cells leads us to hypothesize that ARPKD is
associated with upregulated Na absorption, presumably mediated by ENaC.
We speculate that dysregulated Na transport contributes to the early
onset of hypertension characteristic of this disease. Using assorted
molecular (RT-PCR, Northern Blot, Western Blot) and physiologic (patch
clamp, Ussing chamber) techniques on a human cell culture model, we
plan to elucidate the mechanisms of Na transport in ARPKD renal cystic
epithelia.
Publications
Woda CB, Leite Jr M, Rohatgi R, Satlin LM. Effects of luminal flow and nucleotides on [Ca(2+)](i) in rabbit cortical collecting duct. Am J Physiol Renal Physiol 2002 Sep; 283(3): F437-F446.
Rohatgi R, Gharvi A, Satlin LM. There's Gold in Them Ducts. J Pediatr Gastroenterol Nutr 2003 January; 36(1): 154-156.
Delgado MM, Rohatgi R, Khan S, Holzman IR, Satlin LM. Sodium and Potassium Clearances by the maturing kidney: clinical-molecular correlates. Pediatr Nephrol 2003 Aug; 18(8): 759-767.
Rohatgi R, Greenberg C, Burrow C, Wilson P, Satlin LM. Na Transport in Autosomal Recessive Polycystic Kidney Disease (ARPKD) Cyst-lining epithelial cells. J Am Soc Nephrol 2003 April; 14(4): 827-836.