Nitric Oxide in the Kidney

Jennifer M. Sasser, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor of Pharmacology and Toxicology at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson, MS. She received her BChE degree in Chemical Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, GA, and her Ph.D. in Biomedical Science from the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta, GA, where she studied under the guidance of Jennifer S. Pollock, Ph.D. She then completed her postdoctoral training in the laboratory of Chris Baylis, Ph.D., in the Department of Physiology and Functional Genomics at the University of Florida College of Medicine in Gainesville, FL. Dr. Sasser's current work is focused on the role of nitric oxide deficiency in the progression of hypertension, kidney disease, and preeclampsia. She has been funded by the American Heart Association, the PhRMA Foundation, the American Society of Nephrology, and the National Institutes of Health, and she is an active member of the American Physiological Society, the American Heart Association, and the American Society of Nephrology.

Nitric oxide (NO) is a key regulator of various cellular signaling pathways throughout the body and plays an important role in renal function under normal physiological and pathophysiological conditions. NO plays a major role in the regulation of renal hemodynamics, tubuloglomerular feedback, sodium transport in the nephron, pressure natriuresis, and renal fibrosis and injury; moreover, a deficiency in NO is characteristic of chronic kidney disease in both human patients and in experimental animal models. The goal of this book is to highlight the actions of NO within the kidney and its effects on the regulation of renal blood flow and tubular transport.