Sodium quantification in skeletal muscle: comparison between Cartesian gradient-echo and radial ultra-short echo time Na MRI techniques.

Background: Clinical magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies often use Cartesian gradient-echo (GRE) sequences with ~2-ms echo times (TEs) to monitor apparent total sodium concentration (aTSC). We compared Cartesian GRE and ultra-short echo time three-dimensional (3D) radial-readout sequences for measuring skeletal muscle aTSC.

Methods: We retrospectively evaluated 211 datasets from 112 volunteers aged 62.

Modification of Dialysate Na Concentration but not Ultrafiltration or Dialysis Treatment Time Affects Tissue Na Deposition in Patients on Hemodialysis.

Introduction: Tissue Na overload is present in patients receiving hemodialysis (HD) and is associated with cardiovascular mortality. Strategies to actively modify tissue Na amount in these patients by adjusting the HD regimen have not been evaluated.

Methods: In several substudies, including cross-sectional analyses ( = 75 patients on HD), a cohort study and a cross-over interventional study ( = 10 patients each), we assessed the impact of ultrafiltration (UF) volume, prolongation of dialysis treatment time, and modification of dialysate Na concentration on tissue Na content using Na magnetic resonance imaging (Na-MRI).

Water Conservation Overrides Osmotic Diuresis During SGLT2 Inhibition in Patients With Heart Failure.

Background: Sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitors are believed to improve cardiac outcomes due to their osmotic diuretic potential.

Objectives: The goal of this study was to test the hypothesis that vasopressin-driven urine concentration overrides the osmotic diuretic effect of glucosuria induced by dapagliflozin treatment.

Methods: DAPA-Shuttle1 (Hepato-renal Regulation of Water Conservation in Heart Failure Patients With SGLT-2 Inhibitor Treatment) was a single-center, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial, in which patients with chronic heart failure NYHA functional classes I/II and reduced ejection fraction were randomly assigned to receive dapagliflozin 10 mg daily or placebo (1:1) for 4 weeks.

Afferent neurons of the kidney with impaired firing pattern in inflammation - role of sodium currents?

Peripheral neurons with renal afferents exhibit a predominantly tonic firing pattern of higher frequency that is reduced to low frequencies (phasic firing pattern) in renal inflammation. We wanted to test the hypothesis that the reduction in firing activity during inflammation is due to high-activity tonic neurons switching from higher to low frequencies depending on altered sodium currents. We identified and cultivated afferent sensory neurons with renal projections from the dorsal root ganglia (Th11-L2).