Xu Jiaojiao, Shepard Blythe D, Pluznick Jennifer L
Department of Physiology, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.
Department of Human Science, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, USA.
Nat Rev Nephrol. 2025 Apr;21(4):253-263. doi: 10.1038/s41581-024-00917-y. Epub 2025 Jan 3.
Olfactory receptors (ORs), taste receptors and opsins are well-known for their pivotal roles in mediating the senses of smell, taste and sight, respectively. However, in the past two decades, research has shown that these sensory receptors also regulate physiological processes in a variety of non-sensory tissues. Although ORs, taste receptors and opsins have all been shown to have physiological roles beyond their traditional locations, most work in the kidney has focused on ORs. To date, renal ORs have been shown to have roles in blood pressure regulation (OLFR78 and OLFR558) and glucose homeostasis (OLFR1393). However, sensory receptors remain drastically understudied outside of traditional sensory systems, in part because of inherent challenges in studying these receptors. Increased knowledge of the physiological and pathophysiological roles of sensory receptors has the potential to substantially improve understanding of the function of numerous organs and systems, including the kidney. In addition, most sensory receptors are G protein-coupled receptors, which are considered to be the most druggable class of proteins, and thus could potentially be exploited as future therapeutic targets.
嗅觉受体（ORs）、味觉受体和视蛋白分别因其在介导嗅觉、味觉和视觉方面的关键作用而闻名。然而，在过去二十年中，研究表明这些感觉受体也在多种非感觉组织中调节生理过程。尽管ORs、味觉受体和视蛋白都已被证明在其传统位置之外具有生理作用，但在肾脏中的大多数研究都集中在ORs上。迄今为止，已证明肾脏ORs在血压调节（OLFR78和OLFR558）和葡萄糖稳态（OLFR1393）中发挥作用。然而，在传统感觉系统之外，感觉受体的研究仍然非常不足，部分原因是研究这些受体存在固有挑战。增加对感觉受体生理和病理生理作用的了解有可能极大地增进对包括肾脏在内的众多器官和系统功能的理解。此外，大多数感觉受体是G蛋白偶联受体，被认为是最具药物开发潜力的一类蛋白质，因此有可能被用作未来的治疗靶点。
