| | |  | | NEWSLETTER ::: NO. 21 ::: DEC 2020 | | TRANSPORT AND METABOLISM ARE INTERDEPENDENT | | As anyone who has ever accidentally put diesel into a petrol car will know, even the most sophisticated transport machinery won’t work without the right fuel. And so it is in the kidney, where the numerous different cell types along the tubule are dependent on specific metabolic pathways to optimally perform their specialized solute transport functions. | | Historically, the study of renal transport and metabolism has largely proceeded in parallel, but the two are in fact hugely interdependent. For example, patients with mitochondrial diseases present with tubular transport defects, whilst metabolites themselves need to be transported in and out of cells. However, by harnessing newer technologies some recent studies - including within the NCCR - are at last bringing these previously distinct fields together, to reveal the complex interplay between transport and metabolism in the kidney, and how this changes and evolves in disease states and compensatory remodeling. Crucially, this work is not only providing a more holistic understanding of kidney physiology, but is also identifying exciting new targets for therapeutic intervention. A good example is the metabolic co-factor NAD, which plays a vital role in tubular metabolism, and NAD supplements are now being evaluated in clinical trials in patients with acute kidney injury. Although there is a still a long way to go, it seems that the distant dream of powering up faltering kidneys is slowly starting to become a reality. | | | Andrew Hall Associate professor, UZH Institute of Anatomy |
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| | | | Kidney - Control of Homeostasis | | is a Swiss research initiative, headquartered at University of Zurich, which brings together leading specialists in experimental and clinical nephrology and physiology from the universities of Bern, Fribourg, Geneva, Lausanne, and Zurich, and corresponding university hospitals. |
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