Publications by authors named "Rie Uni"

Article Synopsis
  • Activation of the cholinergic anti-inflammatory pathway through vagus nerve stimulation can improve acute kidney injury in rodent models, highlighting the role of α7nAChR positive macrophages.
  • Research using mice lacking macrophage-specific α7nAChRs demonstrated that the drug GTS-21 helps protect kidney function in normal mice, but not in those without the receptor.
  • Single-cell RNA-sequencing revealed that activating α7nAChRs enhances interactions between macrophages, leading to reduced inflammatory signals, thereby indicating potential protective mechanisms for kidney health.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), a life-threatening condition during critical illness, is a common complication of COVID-19. It can originate from various disease etiologies, including severe infections, major injury, or inhalation of irritants. ARDS poses substantial clinical challenges due to a lack of etiology-specific therapies, multisystem involvement, and heterogeneous, poor patient outcomes.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Systemic iron metabolism is disrupted in chronic kidney disease (CKD). However, little is known about local kidney iron homeostasis and its role in kidney fibrosis. Kidney-specific effects of iron therapy in CKD also remain elusive.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Chronic kidney disease is a progressive disease that may lead to end-stage renal disease. Interstitial fibrosis develops as the disease progresses. Therapies that focus on fibrosis to delay or reverse progressive renal failure are limited.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), a life-threatening condition during critical illness, is a common complication of COVID-19. It can originate from various disease etiologies, including severe infections, major injury, or inhalation of irritants. ARDS poses substantial clinical challenges due to a lack of etiology-specific therapies, multisystem involvement, and heterogeneous, poor patient outcomes.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Cholinergic anti-inflammatory pathway (CAP) describes a neuronal-inflammatory reflex centered on systemic cytokine regulation by α7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (α7nAChR) activation of spleen-residue macrophage. However, the CAP mechanism attenuating distal tissue inflammation, inducing a low level of systemic inflammation, is lesser known. In this study, we hypothesized that CAP regulates monocyte accessibility by influencing their adhesion to endothelial cells.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • The study investigates the role of primary cilia and mitochondrial dysfunction in acute kidney injury (AKI) caused by cisplatin in mouse models.
  • It finds that a decrease in the ciliary maintenance protein IFT88 is linked to tubular damage, as both IFT88 loss and cisplatin treatment lead to shorter primary cilia and impaired mitochondrial function.
  • The results suggest that the interaction between primary cilia and mitochondria, influenced by IFT88 expression, plays a crucial role in maintaining kidney cell health during AKI.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Necroptosis is a programmed cell death that is characterized by regulated necrosis resulting in plasma membrane rupture and subsequent release of damage-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs). Receptor-interacting protein kinase 3 (RIPK3) is a key mediator of this pathway. Accumulating evidence supports a critical role of RIPK3 and the necroptosis pathway in various human diseases.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: The sympathetic nervous system regulates immune cell dynamics. However, the detailed role of sympathetic signaling in inflammatory diseases is still unclear because it varies according to the disease situation and responsible cell types. This study focused on identifying the functions of sympathetic signaling in macrophages in LPS-induced sepsis and renal ischemia-reperfusion injury (IRI).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The efficacy of prior activation of an anti-inflammatory pathway called the cholinergic anti-inflammatory pathway (CAP) through vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) has been reported in renal ischemia-reperfusion injury models. However, there have been no reports that have demonstrated the effectiveness of VNS after injury. We investigated the renoprotective effect of VNS in a cisplatin-induced nephropathy model.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Double-filtration plasmapheresis is an effective and safe treatment for pemphigus. We retrospectively evaluated the decrease in autoantibody titer and pemphigus disease area index following double-filtration plasmapheresis in five patients with moderate to severe pemphigus, who were physically and/or serologically unresponsive to 1.0 mg/kg per day of prednisolone and other supportive drugs and ointments.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF