Renal Physiology Core

Patricia Preisig, Ph.D., Co-Director

Tong Wang, M.D., Co-Director

The Renal Physiology Core provides specialized services and training for assessing renal function in small animals at the level of single tubules in vitro and in vivo (e.g. micropuncture, microperfusion, and tubule-specific microdissection), the whole kidney (e.g. clearance studies in anesthetized animals, perfusion fixation for histology studies), and the intact organism (e.g. balance studies in metabolic cages, acute and chronic BP measurements).

Specific phenotyping assays offered:

• micropuncture
• in vivo microperfusion
• in vitro microperfusion
• microdissection of renal tubules
• inulin clearance to measure GFR
• PAH clearance to measure renal plasma flow (RPF)
• perfusion fixation of kidney and other organs
• acute and chronic BP measurements
• balance studies (individual metabolic cages)
• light-tight boxes with running wheels for circadian rhythm studies
• plasma and urine solute assays (such as BUN, creatinine, Na, K, Ca²⁺, Mg²⁺, albumin)
• measurements of blood acid-base parameters and renal net acid excretion
• brush border membrane preparation