AUTHOR CONTACT:
Fredric E. Wondisford
University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois USA.
Phone: (773) 702-9653
Fax: (773) 834-0486
E-mail: fwondisf@medicine.bsd.uchicago.edu
View the PDF of this article at: https://www.the-jci.org/press/18377.pdf
ACCOMPANYING COMMENTARY: Thyroid hormone action: a binding contract
AUTHOR CONTACT:
Mitchell A. Lazar
University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
Phone: (215) 898-0198
Fax: (215) 898-5408
E-mail: lazar@mail.med.upenn.edu
View the PDF of this commentary at: https://www.the-jci.org/press/19479.pdf
A balancing act in the kidney
The epithelial sodium channel (ENaC) consists of alpha, beta, and gamma subunits present in many configurations, and facilitates sodium reabsorption and potassium secretion. ENaC regulation takes place in the kidney in the aldosterone-sensitive distal nephron, which comprises the end of the distal convoluted tubule (late DCT), the connecting tubule (CNT), and the collecting duct (CD). Bernard C. Rossier and colleagues at the Institut de Pharmacologie et de Toxicologie in Lausanne, Switzerland examined the consequence of inactivating the ENaC alpha subunit in the CD while leaving ENaC expression in the late DCT and CNT intact in mice. The authors found that ENaC expression in the CD is not a prerequisite for achieving sodium and potassium balance, stressing the more proximal nephron segments (late DCT and CNT) in achieving this equilibrium.
TITLE: Collecting ductspecific gene inactivation of alphaENaC in the mouse kidney does not impair sod
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Contact: Brooke Grindlinger
science_editor@the-jci.org
212-342-9006
Journal of Clinical Investigation
15-Aug-2003