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Polycystic kidney diseases are the most common genetic diseases that affect the kidney. There remains a paucity of information regarding mechanisms by which G proteins are regulated in the context of polycystic kidney disease to promote abnormal epithelial cell expansion and cystogenesis. In this study, we describe a functional role for the accessory protein, G-protein signaling modulator 1 (GPSM1), also known as activator of G-protein signaling 3, to act as a modulator of cyst progression in an orthologous mouse model of autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD). A complete loss of Gpsm1 in the Pkd1 V/V mouse model of ADPKD, which displays a hypomorphic phenotype of polycystin-1, demonstrated increased cyst progression and reduced renal function compared with age-matched cystic Gpsm1 +/+ and Gpsm1 +/− mice. Electrophysiological studies identified a role by which GPSM1 increased heteromeric polycystin-1/polycystin-2 ion channel activity via Gβγ subunits. In summary, the present study demonstrates an important role for GPSM1 in controlling the dynamics of cyst progression in an orthologous mouse model of ADPKD and presents a therapeutic target for drug development in the treatment of this costly disease.

Various stimuli, including hormones and growth factors, modulate epithelial sodium channels (ENaCs), which fine-tune Na + absorption in the kidney. Members of the EGF family are important for maintaining transepithelial Na + transport, but whether EGF influences ENaC, perhaps mediating salt-sensitive hypertension, is not well understood. Here, the ENaC inhibitor benzamil attenuated the development of hypertension in Dahl salt-sensitive rats. Feeding these salt-sensitive rats a high-salt diet led to lower levels of EGF in the kidney cortex and enhanced the expression and activity of ENaC compared with feeding a lowsalt diet. To directly evaluate the role of EGF in the development of hypertension and its effect on ENaC activity, we infused EGF intravenously while continuously monitoring BP of the salt-sensitive rats. Infusion of EGF decreased ENaC activity, prevented the development of hypertension, and attenuated glomerular and renal tubular damage. Taken together, these findings indicate that cortical EGF levels decrease with a high-salt diet in salt-sensitive rats, promoting ENaC-mediated Na + reabsorption in the collecting duct and the development of hypertension. More than 76 million American adults have high BP 1 and the likelihood of developing hypertension significantly increases with age. Nearly 40% of African Americans aged .20 years exhibit hypertension and nearly 70% of these individuals have a form of hypertension that is highly sensitive to salt intake. A reduced ability to maintain sodium homeostasis and normal levels of arterial pressure is a hallmark of all forms of hypertension. 2 In the kidney, discretionary Na + reabsorption in response to endocrine input to the aldosterone-sensitive distal nephron (ASDN) is a determinant of the pressurenatriuresis relationship, which is of fundamental importance in the long-term control of arterial pressure. 2,3 Although sodium transport in ASDN accounts for a small proportion of renal sodium transport (,10%), ENaC activity is the rate-limiting step for this discretionary Na + reabsorption. 4 The Dahl salt-sensitive (SS) rat strain used in this study is a genetic animal model of hypertension and kidney disease that reveals disease traits similar to those observed in humans. This inbred strain exhibits a low-renin, sodium-sensitive form of hypertension that is associated with severe and progressive proteinuria, glomerulosclerosis, and renal interstitial fibrosis. [5][6][7] The EGF and related hormones are multipotent agents [8][9][10][11] involved in regulation of various renal

Loss of glomerular podocytes is an indicator of diabetic kidney disease (DKD). The damage to these cells has been attributed in part to elevated intrarenal oxidative stress. The primary source of the renal reactive oxygen species, particularly HO, is NADPH oxidase 4 (NOX4). We hypothesized that NOX4-derived HO contributes to podocyte damage in DKD elevation of podocyte calcium. We used Dahl salt-sensitive (SS) rats with a null mutation for the gene (SS) and mice with knockout of the nonselective calcium channel TRPC6 or double knockout of TRPC5 and TRPC6. We performed whole animal studies and used biosensor measurements, electron microscopy, electrophysiology, and live calcium imaging experiments to evaluate the contribution of this pathway to the physiology of the podocytes in freshly isolated glomeruli. Upon induction of type 1 diabetes with streptozotocin, SS rats exhibited significantly lower basal intracellular Ca levels in podocytes and less DKD-associated damage than SS rats did. Furthermore, the angiotensin II-elicited calcium flux was blunted in glomeruli isolated from diabetic SS rats compared with that in glomeruli from diabetic SS rats. HO stimulated TRPC-dependent calcium influx in podocytes from wild-type mice, but this influx was blunted in podocytes from 6-knockout mice and, in a similar manner, in podocytes from5/6 double-knockout mice. Finally, electron microscopy revealed that podocytes of glomeruli isolated from 6-knockout or5/6 double-knockout mice were protected from damage induced by HO to the same extent. These data reveal a novel signaling mechanism involving NOX4 and TRPC6 in podocytes that could be pharmacologically targeted to abate the development of DKD.

Epoxyeicosatrienoic acids (EETs) contribute to haemodynamics, electrolyte homoeostasis and blood pressure regulation, leading to the concept that EETs can be therapeutically targeted for hypertension. In the present study, multiple structural EET analogues were synthesized based on the EET pharmacophore and vasodilator structure-activity studies. Four EET analogues with 91–119 % vasodilatory activity in the isolated bovine coronary artery (EC50: 0.18–1.6 μM) were identified and studied for blood-pressure-lowering in hypertension. Two EET analogues in which the COOH group at carbon 1 of the EET pharmacophore was replaced with either an aspartic acid (EET-A) or a heterocyclic surrogate (EET-X) were administered for 14 days [10 mg/kg per day intraperitoneally (i.p.)]. Both EET-A and EET-X lowered blood pressure in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHRs) and in angiotensin II (AngII) hypertension. On day 14, the mean arterial pressures in EET analogue-treated AngII-hypertensive and SHRs were 30–50 mmHg (EET-A) and 15–20 mmHg (EET-X) lower than those in vehicle-treated controls. These EET analogues (10 mg/kg per day) were further tested in AngII hypertension by administering orally in drinking water for 14 days and EET-A lowered blood pressure. Additional experiments demonstrated that EET-A inhibits epithelial sodium channel (ENaC) activity in cultured cortical collecting duct cells and reduced renal expression of ENaC subunits in AngII hypertension. In conclusion, we have characterized EET-A as an orally active antihypertensive EET analogue that protects vascular endothelial function and has ENaC inhibitory activity in AngII hypertension.

Epithelial Naϩ channels (ENaCs) mediate sodium reabsorption in the cortical collecting duct (CCD), but the regulatory pathways that modulate the activity of these channels are incompletely understood. Here, we observed that endothelin-1 (ET-1) attenuates ENaC activity acutely by reducing the channel's open probability and chronically by decreasing the number of channels in the plasma membrane. To investigate whether ␤ 1 Pix, a signaling protein activated by ET-1, mediates ENaC activity, we reconstituted ENaC in CHO cells with or without coexpressed ␤ 1 Pix and found that ␤ 1 Pix negatively regulates ENaC. Knockdown of ␤Pix in native principal cells abolished the ET-1-induced decrease in ENaC channel number. Furthermore, we found that ␤Pix does not decrease ENaC activity through its guanine nucleotide exchange factor (GEF) activity for Rac1 and Cdc42. Instead, coexpression of ␤ 1 Pix mutant constructs revealed that ␤ 1 Pix affects ENaC activity through binding 14-3-3 proteins. Coimmunoprecipitation experiments supported a physical interaction between ␤ 1 Pix and 14-3-3␤ in cultured principal cells. Coexpression of 14-3-3␤ increased ENaC activity in CHO cells, but concomitant expression of ␤ 1 Pix attenuated this increase. Recruitment of 14-3-3␤ by ␤ 1 Pix impaired the interaction of 14-3-3␤ with the ubiquitin ligase Nedd4-2, thereby promoting ubiquitination and degradation of ENaC. Taken together, these results suggest that the inhibitory effects of chronic ET-1 on ENaC result from ␤Pix interacting with the 14-3-3/Nedd4-2 pathway.

Salt-sensitive hypertension leads to kidney injury. The Dahl salt-sensitive hypertensive rat (Dahl SS) is a model of salt-sensitive hypertension and progressive kidney injury. The current set of experimental studies evaluated the kidney protective potential of a novel epoxyecosatrienoic acid analog (EET-B) in Dahl SS hypertension. Dahl SS rats receiving high salt diet were treated with EET-B (10 mg/kg/d) or vehicle in drinking water for 14 days. Urine, plasma, and tissue samples were collected at the end of the treatment protocol to assess kidney injury, oxidative stress, inflammation, and endoplasmic reticulum stress. EET-B treatment in Dahl SS rats markedly reduced urinary albumin and nephrin excretion by 60–75% along with 30–60% reductions in glomerular injury, intra-tubular cast formation and kidney fibrosis without affecting blood pressure. In Dahl SS rats, EET-B treatment further caused marked reduction in oxidative stress with 25–30% decrease in kidney malondialdehyde content along with 42% increase of nitrate/nitrite and a 40% reduction of 8-isoprostane. EET-B treatment reduced urinary monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 by 50% along with a 40% reduction in macrophage infiltration in the kidney. Treatment with EET-B markedly reduced renal endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress in Dahl SS rats with reduction in the kidney mRNA expressions and immunoreactivity of glucose regulatory protein 78 and C/EBP homologous protein. In summary, these experimental findings reveal that EET-B provides kidney protection in Dahl SS rats by reducing oxidative stress, inflammation and ER stress, and this protection was independent of reducing blood pressure.

Salt-sensitive hypertension is associated with renal and vascular dysfunctions, which lead to impaired fluid excretion, increased cardiac output, and total peripheral resistance. It is commonly accepted that increased renal sodium handling and plasma volume expansion are necessary factors for the development of salt-induced hypertension. The epithelial sodium channel (ENaC) is a trimeric ion channel expressed in the distal nephron that plays a critical role in the regulation of sodium reabsorption in both normal and pathological conditions. In this mini-review, we summarize recent studies investigating the role of ENaC in the development of salt-sensitive hypertension. On the basis of experimental data obtained from the Dahl salt-sensitive rats, we and others have demonstrated that abnormal ENaC activation in response to a dietary NaCl load contributes to the development of high blood pressure in this model. The role of different humoral factors, such as the components of the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system, members of the epidermal growth factors family, arginine vasopressin, and oxidative stress mediating the effects of dietary salt on ENaC are discussed in this review to highlight future research directions and to determine potential molecular targets for drug development.