Differences in Acidosis-Stimulated Renal Ammonia Metabolism in the Male and Female Kidney.

Differences in Acidosis-Stimulated Renal Ammonia Metabolism in the Male and Female Kidney. Am J Physiol Renal Physiol. 2019 Aug 07;: Authors: Harris AN, Lee HW, Fang L, Verlander JW, Weiner ID Abstract Renal ammonia excretion is a critical component of acid-base homeostasis and changes in ammonia excretion are the predominant component of increased net acid excretion in response to metabolic acidosis. We recently reported substantial sex-dependent differences in basal ammonia metabolism that correlate with sex-dependent differences in renal structure and expression of key proteins involved in ammonia metabolism. The purpose of the current study was to investigate the effect of sex on the renal ammonia response to an exogenous acid load. We studied 4-month old C57BL/6 mice. Ammonia excretion, which was less in males under basal conditions, increased in response to acid-loading to a greater extent in males, such that maximal ammonia excretion did not differ between the sexes. Fundamental structural sex differences in the non-acid loaded kidney persist after acid loading, with less cortical proximal tubule volume density in the female kidney than in the male kidney; whereas the collecting duct volume density was greater in the female kidney. To further investigate sex dependent differences in the response to acid loading we examined expression of proteins involved in ammonia metabolism. The change in expression of PEPCK and Rhbg with ac...
Source: American Journal of Physiology. Renal Physiology - Category: Physiology Authors: Tags: Am J Physiol Renal Physiol Source Type: research