iwatani ryuji

L-carnitine (LC) supplementation improves cardiac function in hemodialysis (HD) patients. However, whether reducing LC supplementation affects carnitine kinetics and cardiac function in HD patients treated with LC remains unclear. Fifty-nine HD patients previously treated with intravenous LC 1000 mg per HD session (three times weekly) were allocated to three groups: LC injection three times weekly, once weekly, and placebo, and prospectively followed up for six months. Carnitine fractions were assessed by enzyme cycling methods...

Ischemia/reperfusion injury is the leading cause of acute tubular necrosis. Nitric oxide has a protective role against ischemia/reperfusion injury; however, the role of asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA), an endogenous inhibitor of nitric oxide synthase, in ischemia/reperfusion injury remains unclear. ADMA is produced by protein arginine methyltransferase (PRMT) and is mainly degraded by dimethylarginine dimethylaminohydrolase (DDAH). Here we examined the kinetics of ADMA and PRMT and DDAH expression in the kidneys of ischemia/reperfusion-injured mice...

BACKGROUND: Matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2) is responsible for the degradation of various types of extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins such as type IV collagen. Decreased MMP-2 expression and activity has been generally thought to contribute to increased accumulation of ECM at the advanced stage of diabetic nephropathy. However, the kinetics and role of MMP-2 in the early phase of diabetic nephropathy remain unclear. To address this issue, we examined whether streptozotocin (STZ)-induced early diabetic nephropathy was accelerated in MMP-2 knockout (KO) mice...

AIMS: Proteinuria is an independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD) in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). Asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA) is a mediator of endothelial dysfunction and is associated with proteinuria in CKD patients. Thus, ADMA can partially account for the increased risk of CVD in CKD patients presenting proteinuria. However, a causal relationship between proteinuria and ADMA remains to be demonstrated. MAIN METHODS: We first investigated whether and how proteinuria might increase ADMA levels in adriamycin (ADR)-treated rats...

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Myeloperoxidase-antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (MPO-ANCA)-positive microscopic polyangiitis patients with renal involvement have been shown to have a progressive clinical course. In this study, we compared the clinical utility of the Japanese Vasculitis Activity Score (JVAS) with the Birmingham Vasculitis Activity Score (BVAS) for predicting death in patients with MPO-ANCA-associated renal involvement. METHODS: Sixty-nine patients with MPO-ANCA-associated vasculitis with renal involvement (22 males and 47 females, age 69...

1. Regulatory T cells (T(reg)) and cytotoxic T cells (CTL) are involved in various immune diseases. However, the prognostic impact of T(reg) and CTL in patients with myeroperoxidase anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody-associated glomerulonephritis (MPO-ANCA-GN) is not well known. Therefore, in the present study, we examined the relationship between expression of forkhead box P3 (Foxp3) and T cell intracytoplasmic antigen (TIA)-1, T(reg) and CTL markers and renal survival in patients with MPO-ANCA-GN. 2. Forty patients with MPO-ANCA-GN and 10 patients with minimal change nephrotic syndrome (MCNS) underwent physical examination, determination of blood chemistry and renal biopsy...