Tubular flow activates magnesium transport in the distal convoluted tubule

What is it about?

Magnesium is essential for health and therefore maintaining the magnesium balance in the human body is of vital importance. The kidneys are responsible for the reabsorption of magnesium from the pro-urine, magnesium that is not reabsorbed cannot be reused and will leave the body with the urine. The kidney has several specialized segments capable of magnesium reabsorption but the distal segment is the final segment in the kidney where magnesium reabsorption can take place. The amount of magnesium available to the cells from the pro-urine varies constantly due to a variable urinary flow within the kidney. Other scientific studies do not take this variable urinary flow into account in their studies, thus we investigated whether variable flow can influence magnesium transport in distal cells of the kidney. In our study we demonstrate that a physiological fluid flow activates magnesium transport in these cells and that this is independent of primary cilia. The primary cilium is an organelle considered to be important for sensing of urinary flow. The information provided in our manuscript provides an important finding to be considered for future studies to magnesium reabsorption. Due to our study it seems that urinary flow is a requirement to achieve normal rates of magnesium reabsorption in the distal portion of the kidney.

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