Water and Salt: from renal mechanisms to clinical disorders

Abstract

Chapter 1 is a brief introduction to the renal mechanisms and clinical disorders of water and sodium balance. The aims of the thesis are presented. The thesis is divided into two parts. Part A (Chapters 2 – 6) presents studies investigating the renal mechanisms of water and sodium balance regulation, while Part B (Chapters 7 – 14) presents studies investigating clinical disorders of water and sodium balance. Chapter 2, the first chapter of Part A, is an introduction to the proteomics technique Difference Gel Electrophoresis (DIGE). Proteomics is a promising new technique with the ability to study cellular signaling pathways and identify clinical disease biomarkers. DIGE is currently one of the few techniques to perform quantitative proteomics, generating a statistical output to differences in protein abundances. The chapter discusses the principles of DIGE-based proteomics, including sample preparation, two-dimensional electrophoresis (2-DE), stat