Department of Pathology, Institute of Nephrology, Niigata University School of Medicine, Niigata, and Second Internal Medicine, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo, Japan

Correspondence: Sei Sasaki, M.D., Second Internal Medicine, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, 1-5-45, Yushima, Bunkyo-Ku, 113–0034, Japan. E-mail: ssaki.med2@tmd.ac.jp

Received 31 December 1997; Revised 18 March 1998; Accepted 23 March 1998.

Abstract

Aquaporins in the kidney: Emerging new aspects. Since 1992 and the discovery of an MIP (major intrinsic protein of lens fiber cell) homologue protein that selectively permeates water, aquaporin (AQP), there has been an explosion of research in this field. Early research speculated that aquaporins played indispensible physiological roles in bacteria and plants, as well as in mammalian organs such as red blood cells, kidney, eye, brain and lung, where water transport rapidly takes place. Yet human subjects were identified who lacked AQP1 and yet had no apparant phenotypical changes clinically. To date 10 aquaporins have been discovered and a plethora of MIP members, and their prevalance in almost all organisms is a testament to their indispensible roles in the body, possibly as water and small neutral solute transporting channels. The recent localization of many different aquaporins in the same organ indicates that they may work cooperatively, which may partially explain the mystery of their physiological mechanism. Because the physiological roles of most aquaporins are currently only speculation, more extensive research is necessary to understand the exact function of each aquaporin.