Publications by authors named "Vasuki Venkat"

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection has been associated with several extrahepatic adverse clinical outcomes, including an accelerated rate of loss of kidney function in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) and an increased mortality in patients with CKD and kidney failure on hemodialysis. Clinical trials using direct-acting antiviral (DAA) agents have uniformly achieved sustained viral response at 12 weeks (SVR) rates of > 90% in the general population as well as in patients with CKD/kidney failure on hemodialysis. Sofosbuvir is a DAA prodrug that is phosphorylated into the active metabolite GS-461203, with subsequent dephosphorylation into the inactive metabolite GS-331007.

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Functional studies show that increased renal nitric oxide (NO) mediates the renal vasodilation and increased glomerular filtration rate that occur during normal pregnancy. We investigated whether changes in the constitutive NO synthases (NOS), endothelial (eNOS) and neuronal (nNOS), were associated with the increased renal NO production in normal midterm pregnancy in the rat. In kidneys from midterm pregnant (MP: 11-13 days gestation), late-term pregnant (LP: 18-20 days gestation), and similarly aged virgin (V) rats, transcript and protein abundance for eNOS and the nNOSα and nNOSβ splice variants, as well as the rate of L-arginine-to-L-citrulline conversion, were determined as a measure of NOS activity.

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Estradiol increases mRNA and/or protein expression of the nitric oxide synthase (NOS) isoforms in a variety of tissues including kidney. In this study we determined the relationship between cyclical variations in estradiol levels and renal function and total NO production in the virgin female rat. In addition, we used an aromatase inhibitor (Anastrozole), to inhibit synthesis of estradiol from testosterone.

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