News

AddToAny

Google+ Facebook Twitter Twitter

Role of glucose in a deadly kidney disease

A research team has developed a new approach to better understand the biology of polycystic kidney disease (PKD).

Scientists combined two ways to model the disorder – organ-in-a-dish and organ-on-a-chip technologies – to show the role of glucose, a sugar commonly found in blood, in forming PKD cysts.

The results could lead to better ways to test and develop treatments for PKD.

In PKD, tiny tubes (tubules) in the kidneys expand like water balloons, forming sacs of fluid over decades. The sacs, or cysts, eventually crowd out healthy tissue, leading to problems in kidney function and kidney failure. Scientists have identified many of the genes that cause PKD, but much about the disease remains unknown, including how the cysts form.

The group found that the cysts absorbed glucose and pulled in water from fluid passed over them. Although glucose is generally absorbed by the kidneys, glucose absorption has not been connected to cyst formation in PKD.

bit.ly/3W11Wbm

Image Credit | Shutterstock

Related Articles

3D culture-images cellvoyager high content analysis system cq3000

Tech news: March 2024

This month's top tech news stories

Healthcare workers performing surgery at hospital - Image credit | iStock-1145212202

Iodine antiseptic and surgical-site infections

A large multicentre clinical trial found that an antiseptic containing iodine resulted in about one-quarter fewer post-surgical infections in patients with limb fractures compared to another frequently used skin antiseptic.

est Blood Glucose For Diabetes stock photo-CREDIT-istock-836372378

Point-of-care testing

Point of Care Project Manager Rakhee Surti outlines a unique project to enhance patient health outcomes in the community.

Top