Abstract
Summary
The urea concentration in the kidney papilla is normally 175 times higher than that in the kidney cortex and the rest of the body. The effect of the high urea concentration on the uptake of uridine was investigated in the rat kidney papilla and cortex. High concentrations of urea (540 mM) were found to increase [14C]uridine uptake into papillary but not into cortical slices. Thus the urea concentration plays a role in regulating uridine uptake in the kidney papilla and may thereby conserve an important substrate for RNA synthesis and intermediary metabolism.
This work was supported in part by Public Health Service Grants AM-11793, AM-5209, AM-13058, MH-16076, 57-164, and NIAMDD Special Fellowship AM-52183 to F.G.T., and by American Cancer Society Grant IN97A.
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