Regulation of water movement across vertebrate renal tubules

Kidneys play an essential role in fluid-ion balance, but the mechanisms of renal handling of water vary depending on structural organization of kidneys and the environment. Fishes and amphibians in a hypoosmotic environment excrete excess water by forming dilute urine, whereas terrestrial tetrapods require water conservation by the kidney for survival. Diluting segments operated by a luminal Na(+)-K(+)-2Cl(-) cotransporter coupled with a basolateral Na(+)-K(+) pump are essential in forming dilute urine. In birds and mammals, the diluting segment that has the same transport characteristics now serves, with the development of additional architectural organization, for countercurrent urine concentration and water conservation. Recently, a number of aquaporin (AQP) water channels have been identified in various transporting epithelia. AQPs conserve the NPA (asparagine-proline-alanine) motif, forming pores selective to water. Although all vertebrate kidneys presumably possess AQP water channels, AQP homologues have been cloned only from amphibian, avian and mammalian renal systems. Studies on expression sites, function and regulation of AQPs will provide important insight into cellular and molecular mechanisms of epithelial water transport and its control by humoral, neural and hemodynamic mechanisms.