In our previous studies, we found that the atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) binding and guanylyl cyclase activity of A-type natriuretic peptide receptors (NPR-A) were upregulated in renal papillae but downregulated in vascular tissues and glomeruli of rats with deoxycorticosterone acetate (DOCA)-salt hypertension [E. Nuglozeh, G. Gauquelin, R. Garcia, J. Tremblay, and E. L. Schiffrin. Am. J. Ph...

Subtractive hybridization is a technique designed to isolate genes and transcripts abundant in or unique to a particular condition. The method has been utilized for constructing a subtracted cDNA library, differential cloning and identifying differentially expressed genes in specific cell lines (3–6,8,9). The analysis of the transcripts isolated by using this technology can be most difficult, i...

The incidence of essential hypertension increases with obesity; however, the mechanisms that link obesity with hypertension are unclear. Renal cytochrome P450 (CYP)-derived eicosanoids--hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acids (HETEs), epoxyeicosatrienoic acids (EETs), and dihydroxyeicosatrienoic acids (DHETs)--have been shown to play an important role in the regulation of renal function, vascular tone, a...

The ability of the clinically used cephalosporins: cephalothin, cefotaxime and cefotiam to induce lipid peroxidation (LPO) and renal damage was compared to that of nephrotoxic cephaloridine under in vivo conditions. Glutathione was measured in rat liver or in renal cortex as non-protein sulfhydryls. LPO was measured in plasma, renal cortex and liver by the generation of malondialdehyde or as th...

The aim of this study was to assess the effects of acute or prolonged increases of ANG II on nitric oxide synthase (NOS) activities and protein expression in mesenteric resistance vessels, left ventricle, renal cortex, and renal medulla. The response of NOS activities to ANG II is compared with that induced by phenylephrine. ANG II or phenylephrine were infused over either 3 h or 3 days to cons...

The blood flow of thyroid, adrenal cortex and renal cortex in the pentobarbital anesthetized rat was assessed from hydrogen gas desaturation curve. The microcirculation of thyroid was markedly augmented within 2 min after an intraventricular injection of Thyrotropin-Releasing Hormone (TRH) while Met-Enkephalin (ENK) failed to influence. Both TRH and ENK stimulated the microcirculation of adrena...

We determined the effect of perfusion pressure on the distribution of blood flow within the renal cortex of the anesthetized dog. Total blood flow to the denervated kidney was measured by an electromagnetic flowmeter and perfusion pressure was manipulated over the autoregulatory range (136 to 81 mm Hg) by an aortic clamp. Distribution of cortical blood flow was determined by the radioactive mic...

To investigate the faster rate of renal disease progression in men compared with women, we addressed the following questions in the renal wrap (RW) model of hypertension: 1) Do sex differences exist in RW-induced renal injury, which are independent of sex differences in blood pressure? 2) Do sex differences in nitric oxide (NO) production exist in RW hypertension? Male (M) and female (F) rats u...

Experiments were performed to test the hypothesis that diabetes mellitus disrupts the balance between synthesis and degradation of nitric oxide (NO) in the renal cortex. Diabetes was induced by injection of streptozotocin, and sufficient insulin was provided to maintain moderate hyperglycemia for the ensuing 2 wk. Despite an 80% increase in total NO synthase activity measured by L-citrulline as...

Mammalian genomes contain several hundred highly conserved genes encoding microRNAs. In silico analysis has predicted that a typical microRNA may regulate the expression of hundreds of target genes, suggesting miRNAs might have broad biological significance. A major challenge is to obtain experimental evidence for predicted microRNA-target pairs. We reasoned that reciprocal expression of a micr...