A role for Rhesus factor Rhcg in renal ammonium excretion and male fertility

Sophie Biver, Hendrica Belge, Soline Bourgeois, Pascale Van Vooren, Marta Nowik, Sophie Scohy, Pascal Houillier, Josiane Szpirer, Claude Szpirer, Carsten A. Wagner, Olivier Devuyst and Anna Maria Marini ()
Additional contact information
Sophie Biver: Université Libre de Bruxelles (U.L.B.), Institut de Biologie et de Médecine Moléculaires, Laboratoires de Biologie du Développement et de Physiologie Moléculaire de la Cellule, Rue Professeurs Jeener et Brachet, 12, B-6041 Gosselies, Belgium
Hendrica Belge: Université catholique de Louvain (U.C.L.), Avenue Hippocrate, 54, B-1200 Brussels, Belgium
Soline Bourgeois: Institute of Physiology and Zurich Center for Integrative Human Physiology, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, Zurich CH-8057, Switzerland
Pascale Van Vooren: Université Libre de Bruxelles (U.L.B.), Institut de Biologie et de Médecine Moléculaires, Laboratoires de Biologie du Développement et de Physiologie Moléculaire de la Cellule, Rue Professeurs Jeener et Brachet, 12, B-6041 Gosselies, Belgium
Marta Nowik: Institute of Physiology and Zurich Center for Integrative Human Physiology, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, Zurich CH-8057, Switzerland
Sophie Scohy: Université Libre de Bruxelles (U.L.B.), Institut de Biologie et de Médecine Moléculaires, Laboratoires de Biologie du Développement et de Physiologie Moléculaire de la Cellule, Rue Professeurs Jeener et Brachet, 12, B-6041 Gosselies, Belgium
Pascal Houillier: INSERM UMRS 872; Université Paris-Descartes
Josiane Szpirer: Université Libre de Bruxelles (U.L.B.), Institut de Biologie et de Médecine Moléculaires, Laboratoires de Biologie du Développement et de Physiologie Moléculaire de la Cellule, Rue Professeurs Jeener et Brachet, 12, B-6041 Gosselies, Belgium
Claude Szpirer: Université Libre de Bruxelles (U.L.B.), Institut de Biologie et de Médecine Moléculaires, Laboratoires de Biologie du Développement et de Physiologie Moléculaire de la Cellule, Rue Professeurs Jeener et Brachet, 12, B-6041 Gosselies, Belgium
Carsten A. Wagner: Institute of Physiology and Zurich Center for Integrative Human Physiology, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, Zurich CH-8057, Switzerland
Olivier Devuyst: Université catholique de Louvain (U.C.L.), Avenue Hippocrate, 54, B-1200 Brussels, Belgium
Anna Maria Marini: Université Libre de Bruxelles (U.L.B.), Institut de Biologie et de Médecine Moléculaires, Laboratoires de Biologie du Développement et de Physiologie Moléculaire de la Cellule, Rue Professeurs Jeener et Brachet, 12, B-6041 Gosselies, Belgium

Nature, 2008, vol. 456, issue 7220, 339-343

Abstract: Abstract The kidney has an important role in the regulation of acid–base homeostasis. Renal ammonium production and excretion are essential for net acid excretion under basal conditions and during metabolic acidosis. Ammonium is secreted into the urine by the collecting duct, a distal nephron segment where ammonium transport is believed to occur by non-ionic NH3 diffusion coupled to H+ secretion. Here we show that this process is largely dependent on the Rhesus factor Rhcg. Mice lacking Rhcg have abnormal urinary acidification due to impaired ammonium excretion on acid loading—a feature of distal renal tubular acidosis. In vitro microperfused collecting ducts of Rhcg-/- acid-loaded mice show reduced apical permeability to NH3 and impaired transepithelial NH3 transport. Furthermore, Rhcg is localized in epididymal epithelial cells and is required for normal fertility and epididymal fluid pH. We anticipate a critical role for Rhcg in ammonium handling and pH homeostasis both in the kidney and the male reproductive tract.

Date: 2008
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/nature07518 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:nature:v:456:y:2008:i:7220:d:10.1038_nature07518

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/

DOI: 10.1038/nature07518

Access Statistics for this article

Nature is currently edited by Magdalena Skipper

More articles in Nature from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().