Reduced renal expression of AQP2, p-AQP2 and AQP3 in haemorrhagic shock-induced acute renal failure

BACKGROUND: The aims of this study were to investigate the changes in the expression levels of renal aquaporins (AQPs) in response to haemorrhagic shock (HS) in rats and whether a change in the expression of AQPs was associated with parallel changes in urinary concentration. METHODS: HS was induced by withdrawal of blood through the femoral artery in rats. A mean arterial blood pressure (MAP) of 40 mmHg was maintained for 1 h before blood was reinfused, and rats were kept in metabolic cages for urine measurements. Two days after HS, we examined the abundance of AQPs in kidney by semiquantitative immunoblotting. RESULTS: HS rats (n = 13) developed acute renal insufficiency (creatinine clearance was 5.5 +/- 0.4 vs 6.9 +/- 0.3 ml/min/kg in sham-operated rats, n = 13, P < 0.05) and decreased urine osmolality (888 +/- 88 vs 1799 +/- 110 mosmol/kg H(2)O, P < 0.05). Consistent with this, semiquantitative immunoblotting revealed that the abundance of AQP2, phosphorylated (Ser256) AQP2 (p-AQP2) and AQP3 in whole kidney was significantly decreased after 2 days to 33 +/- 4, 41 +/- 9 and 35 +/- 14% of sham levels, respectively (P < 0.05). Also, the abundance of AQP2, p-AQP2 and AQP3 in inner medulla was markedly decreased to 36 +/- 8, 39 +/- 10 and 34 +/- 16% of sham levels (P < 0.05). In contrast, the abundance of AQP1 was not significantly changed compared with sham levels. CONCLUSIONS: The expression of the collecting duct water channel AQP2, p-AQP2 and AQP3 was significantly downregulated after HS, which may play an important role in the impaired urinary concentrating ability in HS-induced acute renal failure.