Renal autocrine neuropeptide FF (NPFF) signaling regulates blood pressure.

The kidney and brain play critical roles in the regulation of blood pressure. Neuropeptide FF (NPFF), originally isolated from the bovine brain, has been suggested to contribute to the pathogenesis of hypertension. However, the roles of NPFF and its receptors, NPFF-R1 and NPFF-R2, in the regulation of blood pressure, via the kidney, are not known.

DOPAMINE D4 RECEPTOR DOWN-REGULATES RENAL SODIUM CHLORIDE COTRANSPORTER VIA UBIQUITINATION-ASSOCIATED LYSOSOME DEGRADATION.

Background: The thiazide-sensitive sodium chloride cotransporter (NCC) is the major apical sodium transporter located in the mammalian renal distal convoluted tubule (DCT). The amount of sodium reabsorbed in the DCT through NCC plays an important role in the regulation of extracellular fluid volume and blood pressure. Dopamine and its receptors constitute a renal antihypertensive system in mammals.

Peroxiredoxin-4 and Dopamine D5 Receptor Interact to Reduce Oxidative Stress and Inflammation in the Kidney.

Reactive oxygen species are highly reactive molecules generated in different subcellular compartments. Both the dopamine D5 receptor (DR) and endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-resident peroxiredoxin-4 (PRDX4) play protective roles against oxidative stress. This study is aimed at investigating the interaction between PRDX4 and DR in regulating oxidative stress in the kidney.

Isolation of Lipid Rafts by the Detergent-Based and Non-detergent-Based Methods for Localization of GPCRs with Immunoblotting and Laser Scanning Confocal Microscopy.

The understanding of how biological membranes are organized and how they function has constantly been evolving over the past decades. Instead of just serving as a medium in which specific proteins are located, certain parts of the lipid bilayer contribute to platforms that assemble signaling complexes by providing a microenvironment that facilitates effective protein-protein interactions. G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) and relevant signaling molecules, including the heterotrimeric G proteins, key enzymes such as kinases and phosphatases, trafficking proteins, and secondary messengers, preferentially partition to these highly organized cell membrane microdomains, called lipid rafts.