PHYSIOLOGY AND PATHOPHYSIOLOGY OF AQUAPORINS
Amaia Rodríguez, Victoria Catalán, Sara Becerril, Andoni Lancha, Beatriz Ramírez, Javier Salvador, Javier Gómez-Ambrosi, Giovanna Valenti, Giuseppe Calamita, and Gema Frühbeck (Spain, Italy)
Abstract
Aquaporins (AQPs) are water channels that facilitate a rapid transport of water, across cell membranes. In some cases, these pores are also permeated by small solutes, par- ticularly glycerol. Thirteen aquaporins (AQP0-12) have been identi’ed so far in mam- malian tissues. The disruption of the genes encoding aquaporins in transgenic mice has revealed their implication in physiological and pathophysiological processes, in- cluding renal water absorption, neural function, digestion, tumour angiogenesis, and reproduction. A subset of aquaporins that transport both water and glycerol, the‘aqua- glyceroporins’, regulate glycerol content in epidermal, fat and other tissues, and are involved in skin hydration, fat metabolism and gluconeogenesis. Better understanding of the exact mechanisms and regulation of aquaporins might be useful for designing potential drug targets against di
Adipobiology 2010; 2:9-22
Keywords: water and glycerol transport, transgenic knockout mice, human diseases
Received 2 July 2010, accepted 1 August 2010.
Correspondence to: Dr Amaia Rodríguez, Metabolic Research Laboratory, University of Navarra, Irunlarrea 1, 31008 Pamplona,
Spain. Tel.: +34 948 42 56 00 (ext. 6544), Fax: +34 948 42 56 52,
E-mail: arodmur@unav.es
