Inhibition of urea transporter ameliorates uremic cardiomyopathy in chronic kidney disease.

Uremic cardiomyopathy, characterized by hypertension, cardiac hypertrophy, and fibrosis, is a complication of chronic kidney disease (CKD). Urea transporter (UT) inhibition increases the excretion of water and urea, but the effect on uremic cardiomyopathy has not been studied. We tested UT inhibition by dimethylthiourea (DMTU) in 5/6 nephrectomy mice. This treatment suppressed CKD-induced hypertension and cardiac hypertrophy. In CKD mice, cardiac fibrosis was associated with upregulation of UT and vimentin abundance. Inhibition of UT suppressed vimentin amount. Left ventricular mass index in DMTU-treated CKD was less compared with non-treated CKD mice as measured by echocardiography. Nephrectomy was performed in UT-A1/A3 knockout (UT-KO) to further confirm our finding. UT-A1/A3 deletion attenuates the CKD-induced increase in cardiac fibrosis and hypertension. The amount of α-smooth muscle actin and tgf-β were significantly less in UT-KO with CKD than WT/CKD mice. To study the possibility that UT inhibition could benefit heart, we measured the mRNA of renin and angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE), and found both were sharply increased in CKD heart; DMTU treatment and UT-KO significantly abolished these increases. Conclusion: Inhibition of UT reduced hypertension, cardiac fibrosis, and improved heart function. These changes are accompanied by inhibition of renin and ACE.