The pelvis-kidney junction contains HCN3, a hyperpolarization-activated cation channel that triggers ureter peristalsis.

ABSTRACT: Peristaltic waves of the ureteric smooth muscles move urine down from the kidney, a process that is commonly defective in congenital diseases. To study the mechanisms that control the initiation and direction of contractions, we used video microscopy and optical mapping techniques and found that electrical and contractile waves began in a region where the renal pelvis joined the connective tissue core of the kidney. Separation of this pelvis-kidney junction from more distal urinary tract segments prevented downstream peristalsis, indicating that it housed the trigger for peristalsis. Moreover, cells in the pelvis-kidney junction were found to express isoform 3 of the hyperpolarization-activated cation on channel family known to be required for initiating electrical activity in the brain an

SUBMITTER: Hurtado R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4098940 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature