Diabetes insipidus is a polyuric syndrome characterized by a pathologic excretion of large amounts of urine with low osmolality. It can originate from a total or partial lack of antidiuretic hormone (ADH) production from the pituitary gland or from “resistance” of the collecting tubules of the kidney to the ADH. Acute monocytic leukemia infiltrates the central nervous system in up to 50% of cas...

Steroid hormones such as 17β-estradiol (E2) are known to modulate ion transporter expression in the kidney through classic intracellular receptors. Steroid hormones are also known to cause rapid nongenomic responses in a variety of nonrenal tissues. However, little is known about renal short-term effects of steroid hormones. Here, we studied the acute actions of E2 on intracellular Ca(2+) signa...

Here, we have utilized six new anti-human beta 5 monoclonal antibodies to perform a detailed investigation of the structure, function and distribution of beta 5 integrins. Monoclonal anti-beta 5 specificity was confirmed by reactivity with beta 5-transfected CHO cells, by direct binding to the beta 5 subunit (immunoblotting), and by immunodepletion experiments using polyclonal anti-beta 5 serum...

Nucleoside transporters in kidney mediate renal reabsorption and secretion of nucleosides. Using RT-PCR, we demonstrated mRNAs encoding hENT1, hENT2, hCNT1, hCNT2, and hCNT3 in both cortex and medulla. Immunoblotting with crude membrane preparations revealed abundant hENT1 and hCNT3 in both cortex and medulla, and little, if any, hENT2, hCNT1, or hCNT2, indicating that the latter were either ab...

Unilateral small kidney with ureteral obstruction was discovered in a 74-year-old female cadaver during an anatomical dissection course. In order to elucidate the histogenesis of renal dysplasia, we carried out histochemical and immunohistochemical analyses. On macroscopic view, the kidney was approximately 3 cm in length, 2 cm in width and weighed only 9 g. Although the ureter ran from the ren...

IN THE CURRENT article in focus, Ji et al. (Ref. 5, see p. C1182 in this issue) present evidence that osmotic pressure can acutely regulate activity of the amiloridesensitive epithelial Na1 channel (ENaC) expressed in oocytes. Given the restricted tissue distribution of ENaC, is it plausible that ENaC could play an important role in cell volume regulation in response to anisosmotic stimuli in v...

Medullary sponge kidney (MSK) is a congenital disorder that can affect one or both kidneys, or only part of one kidney. There are ectatic and cystic changes of the medullary and papillary collecting ducts. This cystic dilatation of tubules may have an effect on urinary flow. Cysts can be 1-7 mm in diameter. Cyst formation is commonly associated with the development of small calculi within the c...

INTRODUCTION Medullary sponge kidney is a congenital anomaly characterized by diffuse ectasy of the collecting tubules of one or both kidneys. It is usually diagnosed in the second or third decade of life. CASE PRESENTATION Distal renal tubular acidosis is commonly observed in patients with medullary sponge kidney. We describe here a 50-day-old Egyptian Caucasian girl with medullary sponge ki...

The fact that deposits of urates are found in the collecting tubules of the kidneys of about one-half of all infants dying during the first two weeks of life, indicates that, in all probability, similar deposits occur frequently in normal infants. Consequently, it must be assumed that such deposits are not often a source of any harm, which assumption accounts for the relatively slight considera...