BACKGROUND Exposure to heavy metals may cause kidney damage. The population living near the Avonmouth zinc smelter has been exposed to cadmium and other heavy metals for many decades. OBJECTIVES We aimed to assess Cd body burden and early signs of kidney damage in the Avonmouth population. METHODS We used dispersion modeling to assess exposure to Cd. We analyzed urine samples from the local...

In chronic kidney disease (CKD), progressive nephron loss causes glomerular sclerosis, as well as tubulointerstitial fibrosis and progressive tubular injury. In this study, we aimed to identify molecular changes that reflected the histopathological progression of renal tubulointerstitial fibrosis and tubular cell damage. A discovery set of renal biopsies were obtained from 48 patients with hist...

In the strive for optimal indicators of kidney damage, nephrologists may at times feel entangled in a molecular jungle. Contrary to cardiologists that succeeded in establishing highly sensitive biomarker molecules for hypoxic cellular damage, nephrologists await well-performing ‘damage’ indicators. Reasons for this are ample and mostly relate to the complex composition of the functional units a...

Nephrotoxicity is a common toxic side-effect of chemotherapeutic alkylating agents. Although the base excision repair (BER) pathway is essential in repairing DNA alkylation damage, under certain conditions the initiation of BER produces toxic repair intermediates that damage healthy tissues. We have shown that the alkyladenine DNA glycosylase, Aag (a.k.a. Mpg), an enzyme that initiates BER, med...

In recent decade the number of organ, including kidney, transplantations both from dead and living donor has noticeably increased. Kidney transplantation is the gold standard of treatment of the patients at thermal chronic renal insufficiency stage [2]. In view of increasing numbers of patients with transplanted kidney, it is a compelling task to protect kidney transplant from chronic damage (r...

The increased deposition of iron in the kidneys that occurs with glomerulopathy hinders the functional and structural recovery of the tubules and promotes progression of chronic kidney disease (CKD). Here, we evaluated whether epoetin beta pegol (continuous erythropoietin receptor activator: CERA), which has a long half-life in blood and strongly suppresses hepcidin-25, exerts renoprotection in...

OBJECTIVE This work aimed to investigate the effects of the administration of cannabidiol in a kidney ischemia/reperfusion animal model. METHODS Kidney injury was induced by 45 minutes of renal ischemia followed by reperfusion. Cannabidiol (5mg/kg) was administered immediately after reperfusion. RESULTS Ischemia/reperfusion increased the IL-1 and TNF levels, and these levels were attenuated...

PURPOSE OF REVIEW The review will examine advances in our understanding of the role kidneys play in high-density lipoprotein (HDL) metabolism and the effect on levels, composition, and function of HDL particles. RECENT FINDINGS Components of the HDL particles can cross the glomerular filtration barrier. Some of these components, including apolipoproteins and enzymes involved in lipid metaboli...

Vascular disease is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the Western world, and vascular function is determined by structural and functional properties of the arterial vascular wall. Cardiorenal metabolic syndrome such as obesity, diabetes, hypertension, kidney disease, and aging are conditions that predispose to arterial stiffening, which is a pathological alteration of the vascular...

Background: Septic acute kidney injury (AKI), identified when sepsis and AKI present concurrently, is a syndrome of function impairment organ damage, which accounts for ~50% in the intensive care unit (ICU).