The role of the renal sympathetic and sensory nervous systems on inflammation and oxidative damage in human proximal tubule cells during high albumin exposure

• Grant number: 22/08295-9
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate
• Start date: March 16, 2023
• End date: March 15, 2024
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Physiology - Physiology of Organs and Systems
• Principal Investigator: Erika Emy Nishi
• Grantee: Amanda Costa Veiga
• Supervisor: Louise Christine Evans
• Host Institution: Escola Paulista de Medicina (EPM). Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP). Campus São Paulo. São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: University of Minnesota (U of M), United States
• Associated to the scholarship: 20/02617-9 - Mechanisms involved in renal protein reabsorption in Renovascular Hypertension: a role for the renal nerve, BP.DR

Abstract

Studies have shown that the renal nerves play a major role in the maintenance of arterial hypertension (AH) in humans and experimental models. Our previous studies demonstrated that renal denervation (RDN) normalized urinary angiotensinogen and protein levels, reduced markers of renal injury, renal function, oxidative damage, and inflammation in experimental models of renovascular hypertension (2K1C) and chronic kidney disease (CKD). High levels of proteinuria, mainly albuminuria, are considered a risk factor for cardiovascular diseases and changes in renal tubular mechanisms have been shown to contribute to tubular interstitial lesion. Recent data from the candidate's PhD project supported by FAPESP suggest that renal nerves potentially lead to albumin reabsorption reduction by the proximal tubule (PT), in addition to PT lesion and glomerular mechanisms of proteinuria in 2K1C rats. We have also shown that PT cells treated with norepinephrine (NOR) overnight results in increased albumin (ALB) reabsorption under normal conditions. Thus, in order to complement our data, the present project aims to evaluate the role of neuropeptides released by sensory and sympathetic fibers on inflammatory markers and oxidative stress under physiological and supraphysiological concentrations of ALB in human proximal tubule cells (RPTEC/TERT1) in Dr. Evans' lab. (AU)