Acute kidney injury, or AKI, is a dangerous condition that affects many people in hospitals, especially those in intensive care or recovering from serious medical events such as heart surgery or infections.
AKI can lead to long-term kidney damage and can also increase the risk of chronic kidney disease. There are currently no approved medications to treat it.
Researchers at University of Utah Health have found a promising way to prevent AKI using a compound that targets a group of fat molecules known as ceramides.
These molecules were shown to damage the energy-producing structures of the kidneys, the mitochondria. When the researchers blocked ceramides, they completely prevented kidney damage in mice.
Dr. Scott Summers, senior author of the study and chairman of the Department of Nutrition and Integrative Physiology at the University of Utah, was surprised by the results. “We have completely reversed the pathology of acute kidney injury by inactivating ceramides,” he said. “Not only did kidney function remain normal, but the mitochondria were also unharmed.”
The research was published in the journal Cell metabolism.
The study builds on previous work from Dr. Summers, which showed that ceramides can damage other organs such as the heart and liver.
When the team examined ceramide levels after kidney damage, they found that levels shot up quickly in both mouse and human urine samples.
The more severe the injury, the higher the ceramide levels. This means that ceramides may also serve as an early warning sign or biomarker for AKI, allowing doctors to identify at-risk patients before symptoms appear.
