Aquaporin-2 Expression in Rat Kidney

Presenter Information

David Green, Minnesota State University, Mankato

Location

CSU Ballroom

Start Date

9-4-2012 10:00 AM

End Date

9-4-2012 11:30 AM

Student's Major

Chemistry and Geology

Student's College

Science, Engineering and Technology

Mentor's Name

Theresa Salerno

Mentor's Department

Chemistry and Geology

Mentor's College

Science, Engineering and Technology

Description

Aquaporin-2 (AQP2) is a water channel protein isoform that helps to regulate the amount of water in mammalian kidneys. AQP2 accomplishes this by inserting itself into kidney cell membranes which then allows water to be reabsorbed back into the body. When more water is reabsorbed into the body, plasma levels in the blood increase which can induce hypertension. The hormone aldosterone is known to regulate AQP2 expression by reducing AQP2 gene transcription while at the same time increasing AQP2 mRNA translation. The purpose of this research is to determine if there is a correlation between aldosterone levels and AQP2 expression in rat kidney. Comparisons were made using kidneys from both spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) and normotensive rats. RNA was extracted from rat kidneys using the RNeasy Mini Kit (Qiagen) and the quality and quantity of total RNA were measured using a spectrophotometer. Copy DNA (cDNA) was synthesized from the purified total RNA using a high capacity cDNA reverse transcription kit (Applied Biosystems). A primer/probe set that was specific for the amplification of rat AQP2 was successfully designed using Primer Express software (Applied Biosystems). The method showed good efficiency when tested with varying levels of rat kidney cDNA. This method was then applied to study AQ2 expression in rats with different plasma aldosterone levels. Initial studies have shown no statistical correlation between aldosterone levels and AQP2 expression in male SHR kidney tissue.