Posted on 04/13/2024 9:09:31 PM PDT by ConservativeMind
Scientists have successfully grown 'mini kidneys' in the lab and grafted them into live mice, revealing new insights into the metabolic defects and a potential therapy for polycystic kidney disease.
"Mini kidneys," or kidney organoids, are kidney-like structures grown in the lab using stem cells. In the study, researchers grew the organoids using skin cells derived from patients with polycystic kidney disease (PKD).
People with PKD often progress to end-stage kidney disease between their 50s and 60s, with the standard treatment options available being dialysis or a kidney transplant. One other option is the drug Tolvaptan, which is very costly and has severe side effects on the liver.
Scientists have long known that abnormalities in a structure on kidney cells, or the primary cilium, cause cysts to form in kidneys. However, tests to understand the regulatory mechanism and relationship between the primary cilium and cell metabolism (autophagy) in live mice with PKD, have not been possible until now.
By studying the development of PKD in live mice and testing cellular pathways, researchers found evidence that boosting autophagy could reduce the severity of cysts in the mini kidney.
After establishing that boosting autophagy could reduce cysts, the NTU scientists shortlisted 22 drugs known for their effects on cell metabolism and tested them in the lab. Results showed that minoxidil, a clinical drug widely used to cure hypertension and hair loss, effectively reduced cyst formation in the novel mouse model.
Asst Prof Xia Yun said, "Our study has demonstrated how cysts in polycystic diseased kidneys can be reduced by boosting autophagy, suggesting that this could be a promising treatment for PKD. Moreover, the proven clinical safety of minoxidil may allow it to be quickly re-purposed to treat PKD patients in clinic."
(Excerpt) Read more at medicalxpress.com ...
They are continuing to test other drugs, however.
After getting a couple of clot shots I got gout. However, I was also on a paleo diet, and eating lots of purine meat proteins. The standard medical advice for treating gout is to reduce meat intake. I did that and it worked. However, it made me gain weight and feel bad. About that time I started taking DHEA for other maladies. And voila,. DHEA improved my gout.
The little grey cells went into overdrive. Mainstream medicine regards gout as the liver oxidizing purine proteins into uric acid instead of re-formulating purine proteins into useable proteins. It totally ignores the fact that kidneys are supposed to remove uric acid. Were my kidneys under-performing?
Minoxidil grows head hair via hormone stimulation. That’s funny because DHEA grows head hair the same way, via hormone stimulation.
Summing up, if Minoxidil fixes hair and kidney problems, and DHEA fixes hair problems, then wouldn’t DHEA work the same way as Minoxidil on kidneys?
I think DHEA must have treated my gout the same way Minoxidil does, by improving kidney function.
Very interesting.
“Renal” is the term for kidney, and “cilia” is the generic term for hairs. It seems that many vital kidney functions depend on healthy interaction with kidney cilia.
https://search.brave.com/search?q=renal+cilia&source=desktop
https://journals.physiology.org/doi/full/10.1152/ajprenal.00399.2013
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