%0 Journal Article
%T Podocyte Cell-Specific Npr1 is Required for Blood Pressure and Renal Homeostasis in Male and Female Mice: Role of Sex-Specific Differences.
%A Ramasamy C
%A Neelamegam K
%A Ramachandran S
%A Xia H
%A Kapusta DR
%A Danesh FR
%A Pandey KN
%J Physiol Genomics
%V 0
%N 0
%D 2024 Aug 5
%M 39101921
%F 4.297
%R 10.1152/physiolgenomics.00137.2023
%X Atrial and brain natriuretic peptides (ANP and BNP) bind to guanylyl cyclase-A/natriuretic peptide receptor-A (GC-A/NPRA), stimulating natriuresis and diuresis and reducing blood pressure (BP), but the role of ANP/NPRA signaling in podocytes (highly specialized epithelial cells covering the outer surfaces of renal glomerular capillaries) remains unclear. This study aimed to determine the effect of conditional deletion of podocyte (PD)-specific Npr1 (encoding NPRA) gene knockout (KO) in male and female mice. Tamoxifen-treated wild-type control (PD Npr1 f/f; WT), heterozygous (PD-Cre-Npr1 f/+; HT), and knockout (PD-Cre-Npr1 f/-; KO) mice were fed a normal-, low-, or high-salt diet for 4 weeks. Podocytes isolated from HT and KO male and female mice showed complete absence of Npr1 mRNA and NPRA protein compared to WT mice. BP, plasma creatinine, plasma sodium, urinary protein, and albumin/creatinine ratio were significantly increased, while plasma total protein, albumin, creatinine clearance, and urinary sodium levels were significantly reduced in the HT and KO male and female mice compared to WT mice. These changes were significantly greater in males than females. On a normal-salt diet, glomerular filtration rate (GFR) was significantly decreased in PD Npr1 HT and KO male and female mice compared with WT mice. Immunofluorescence of podocin and synaptopodin were also significantly reduced in HT and KO mice compared to WT mice. These observations suggest that in podocytes, ANP/NPRA signaling may be crucial in the maintenance and regulation of glomerular filtration and BP and serve as a biomarker of renal function in a sex-dependent manner.