FOR 1368:  Hemodynamic Mechanisms of Acute Kidney Injury

• Subject Area: Medicine
• Term: from 2011 to 2018
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 152203169

The Research Unit consists of eight research groups with different methodological expertise and a long-standing history of collaborations. Acute kidney injury (AKI) comprises a family of syndromes characterised by a sudden decrease in glomerular filtration rate. A multitude of causes may lead to acute kidney injury, which are commonly classified according to their origin as intrarenal, pre- and postrenal. The damage leading to acute kidney injury spans from functional dysregulation without overt morphological features to tubular destruction. Considerable effort has been made to develop techniques to prevent acute kidney injury or to facilitate its resolution. Unfortunately, preventing the development of AKI in at-risk populations is difficult.
By true collaborative and translational research with interactions between the eight groups we pursue the following goals: (1) to define the role of regional circulation, particularly the vasa afferentia and vasa efferentia, and the role of TRPV1 in the pathophysiology of acute kidney injury; (2) to elucidate the mechanisms of AKI-induced stimulation of Hypoxia inducible factor (HIF), cytochrome P450 (CYP) products and NF-B; (3) to establish a promising marker for acute kidney injury and its origin; (4) to define a new strategy to prevent or treat acute kidney injury caused by local ischemia.
As a whole, this Research Unit aims at transferring new insights from the pathophysiology of acute kidney injury into prevention strategies to reduce morbidity and mortality.

• DFG Programme: Research Units
• International Connection: Sweden

Projects

• Detailing the relation between T2* and tissue pO2 with MR-PHYSIOL to enable unambiguous MR characterization of renal hemodynamics and oxygenation (Applicants Dragun, Duska ;  Niendorf, Ph.D., Thoralf ;  Seeliger, Erdmann )
• EET-mediated mechanisms of protection against AKI (Applicants Dragun, Duska ;  Schunck, Wolf-Hagen )
• Hypoxia and vasa recta function (Applicants Patzak, Ph.D., Andreas ;  Persson, Pontus Börje ;  Sendeski, Ph.D., Mauricio )
• Impact of recently identified angiotensin peptides and their cofactors on vascular hemodynamics in AKI patients (Applicants Jankowski, Joachim ;  Jankowski, Vera )
• Mechanisms Up- and Down-Stream of Hypoxia-Inducible Factor in Acute Kidney Injury (Applicants Fähling, Michael ;  Rosenberger, Christian )
• Molecular physiology and epigenetics of NF-kB/BMP interactions in the post-ischemic kidney (Applicants Müller, Dominik N. ;  Schmidt-Ott, Kai ;  Schmidt-Ullrich, Ruth Ingeborg )
• Regulation of renal perfusion and oxygenation in sepsis-induced acute kidney injury (Applicant Seeliger, Erdmann )
• Role of the downstream mediator of glucocorticoids, annexin A1, in the repair process of acute kidney injury (Applicants Bachmann, Sebastian ;  Eckardt, Kai-Uwe )
• Service and Management Project (Applicant Persson, Pontus Börje )
• Therapeutic implications and pathophysiological role of calprotectin in acute kidney injury (Applicants Schmidt-Ott, Kai ;  Westhoff, Timm H. )
• Transient receptor potential vanilloid type 1 (TRPV1) channels in acute kidney injury (Applicant Gollasch, Maik )

• Spokesperson: Professor Dr. Pontus Börje Persson
• Deputy: Professor Dr. Walter Zidek