Publication

Urea transporter physiology studied in knockout mice

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Last modified
  • 02/20/2025
Type of Material
Authors
    Xuechen Li, Peking UniversityGuangping Chen, Emory UniversityBaoxue Yang, Peking University
Language
  • English
Date
  • 2012-06-26
Publisher
  • Frontiers Research Foundation
Publication Version
Copyright Statement
  • © 2012 Li, Chen and Yang.
License
Final Published Version (URL)
Title of Journal or Parent Work
ISSN
  • 1664-042X
Volume
  • 3
Issue
  • 217
Start Page
  • 1
End Page
  • 11
Grant/Funding Information
  • This work was supported by Chinese National Natural Science Foundation grants 30870921 and 81170632 (to B.Yang), Drug Discovery Program grant 2009ZX09301-010-30 (to B. Yang), The Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education 20100001110047 (to B. Yang), and by NIH R01-DK087838 (to G. Chen).
Abstract
  • In mammals, there are two types of urea transporters; urea transporter (UT)-A and UT-B. The UT-A transporters are mainly expressed in kidney epithelial cells while UT-B demonstrates a broader distribution in kidney, heart, brain, testis, urinary tract, and other tissues. Over the past few years, multiple urea transporter knockout mouse models have been generated enabling us to explore the physiological roles of the different urea transporters. In the kidney, deletion of UT-A1/UT-A3 results in polyuria and a severe urine concentrating defect, indicating that intrarenal recycling of urea plays a crucial role in the overall capacity to concentrate urine. Since UT-B has a wide tissue distribution, multiple phenotypic abnormalities have been found in UT-B null mice, such as defective urine concentration, exacerbated heart blockage with aging, depression-like behavior, and earlier male sexual maturation. This review summarizes the new insights of urea transporter functions in different organs, gleaned from studies of urea transporter knockout mice, and explores some of the potential pharmacological prospects of urea transporters.
Author Notes
  • Correspondence: Guangping Chen, Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA. E-mail: gchen3@emory.edu; Baoxue Yang, Department of Pharmacology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Peking University, 38 Xueyuan Lu, Haidian District, Beijing 100191, China. E-mail: baoxue@bjmu.edu.cn
Research Categories
  • Biology, Animal Physiology

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