Bartter's, Gitelman's, and Gordon's syndromes. From physiology to molecular biology and back, yet still some unanswered questions.

The molecular basis of many of the inherited disorders of potassium homeostasis has become much clearer in the last two decades. Despite these new insights into the physiology of renal potassium handling, a number of questions remain to be answered. The examples we use to illustrate these issues are Gordon's syndrome, Bartter's syndrome, and Gitelman's syndrome. Our objective is to integrate these new insights into an understanding of the pathophysiology of renal potassium handling. We also propose different ways to think about some of the unresolved issues in this area.