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Kidneys Found W'nting
03 October 2016

Kidneys Found W'nting

Weeks of strikes by rubbish collectors in 1979 saw piles of waste blocking pavements across the UK. Waste removal is vital to keep a country going and is no less important in the human body. When your kidneys go on strike the consequences of accumulating waste can be fatal. Kidneys remove waste through a complex system of filters and ducts. Defects in the development of this system are behind a group of congenital kidney diseases called CAKUT. The molecular causes of CAKUT are unclear. Researchers now reveal that the signalling molecule Wnt5a is important for kidney development. Imaging kidneys in mouse embryos, they found removing Wnt5a caused defects including duplicated ducts, small kidneys, and deformed lobes (second to fourth panels), compared to controls (first panel). More digging revealed that a Wnt5a mutation, found in human kidney disease, caused reduced Wnt5a signalling. So it seems Wnt5a may be important in CAKUT.

Written by Lux Fatimathas

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BPoD stands for Biomedical Picture of the Day. Managed by the MRC Laboratory of Medical Sciences until Jul 2023, it is now run independently by a dedicated team of scientists and writers. The website aims to engage everyone, young and old, in the wonders of biology, and its influence on medicine. The ever-growing archive of more than 4000 research images documents over a decade of progress. Explore the collection and see what you discover. Images are kindly provided for inclusion on this website through the generosity of scientists across the globe.

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