The homeostasis of NaCl is critical to complex organisms with closed blood systems. Kidneys regulate this salt excretion by modulating the rapport between glomeruli and tubules. The tubules respond to glomeruli with glomerulotubular balance, whereas glomeruli respond to tubules through tubuloglomerular feedback. These relationships are dynamic, mysterious, and amenable to mathematical analyses....

Tissue factor pathway inhibitor (TFPI) was demonstrated in the kidneys of normal rabbits and in a crescentic model of glomerulonephritis (GN), where fibrin is a key mediator of injury. In normal kidneys, TFPI was expressed in glomeruli, in intrarenal arteries and the interstitial capillary network. Evidence for TFPI synthesis in vivo was provided by in situ demonstration of TFPI mRNA in glomeru...

The presence and properties of cyclic 3',5'-adenosine monophosphate phosphodiesterase (cAMP-PDIE) and cyclic 3',5'-guanosine monophosphate phosphodiesterase (cGMP-PDIE) were studied in glomeruli isolated from rat renal cortex by sieving and density gradient centrifugation. The specific activity of cGMP-PDIE was higher than the specific activity of cAMP-PDIE in glomeruli; in tubules and renal co...

Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) mediates increased vascular permeability and endothelial mitogenesis, and may orchestrate normal glomerular permselectivity and proteinuria. Distinct isoforms result from differential gene splicing. VEGF binds to two cell surface tyrosine-kinase receptors, KDR (kinase domain region) and Flt-1 (fms-like tyrosine kinase-1). The latter also exists in a sol...

BACKGROUND There is a high prevalence of vitamin D insufficiency in women of reproductive age. METHODS This work studied the first two generations of offspring (F1 and F2) of Swiss mice from mothers fed one of two diets: SC (standard chow) or VitD- (vitamin D-deficient). Functional and developmental kidney measurements were taken. RESULTS The first two generations of the VitD- group had hig...

RBF and GFR are decreased in kidneys after ipsilateral unilateral ureteral obstruction (UUO) for 24 h. Despite net vasoconstriction, vasodilatory mechanisms respond to counterbalance the vasoconstriction: the inhibition of nitric oxide synthase activity is associated with a greater reduction in RBF with ipsilateral UUO. To determine whether the stimulation of soluble guanylyl cyclase differs be...

1. Under the experimental conditions employed, from 44 to 78 per cent of the glomeruli of the normal rabbit kidney contain circulating blood at any one moment. 2. After unilateral nephrectomy the number of glomeruli in the remaining kidney, which contain circulating blood, is increased to 91 to 99 per cent. 3. Compensation for the removal of one kidney is accomplished during the first 10 days a...