Potential 2006 Honours Projects.

Regulation of renal medullary nitric oxide (NO) production in response to adenosine receptor activation.

Students will investigate the possibility that renal epithelial cells generate NO in response to adenosine receptor agonists.  This work will include a characterization of the intracellular mechanisms underlying this response using outer medullary tubules.  Techniques include real time PCR, micro-dissection of renal medullary tubules (we want thick ascending limb of the loop of Henle), live cell fluorescent imaging (with DAF, a NO-fluorophore and possibly, PBFI a K⁺-sensitive fluorophore and FURA-2, a Ca²⁺-sensitive fluorophore) and (maybe a little) immunocytochemistry.

Supervisors: Dr. John Haynes , Nathalie Tochon-Danguy and Roger Evans