Salazar-Gonzalez Hector, Gutierrez-Mercado Yanet Karina, Echavarria Raquel
Departamento de Procesos Tecnológicos e Industriales, Instituto Tecnologico y de Estudios Superiores de Occidente (ITESO), Tlaquepaque 45604, Mexico.
Departamento de Clinicas, Centro Universitario de los Altos, Universidad de Guadalajara, Tepatitlan de Morelos 47620, Mexico.
Biology (Basel). 2026 Jan 17;15(2):173. doi: 10.3390/biology15020173.
Kidney cells are exposed to a wide range of physiological and pathological stresses, including hormonal changes, mechanical forces, hypoxia, hyperglycemia, and inflammation. These insults can trigger adaptive responses, but when they persist, they can lead to organelle stress. Organelles such as mitochondria, the endoplasmic reticulum, and primary cilia sustain cellular metabolism and tissue homeostasis. When organelle stress occurs, it disrupts cellular processes and organelle communication, leading to metabolic dysfunction, inflammation, fibrosis, and progression of kidney disease. Sex and hormonal factors play a significant role in the development of renal disorders. Many glomerular diseases show distinct differences between the sexes. Chronic Kidney Disease is more common in women, while men often experience a faster decline in kidney function, partly due to the influence of androgens. Additionally, the loss of female hormonal protection after menopause highlights the importance of sex as a factor in renal susceptibility. This narrative review synthesizes preclinical evidence on how sexual dimorphism and sex hormones affect organelle stress in mitochondria, the endoplasmic reticulum, and primary cilia, from 33 studies identified through a non-systematic literature search of the PubMed database, to provide an overview of how these mechanisms contribute to sex-specific differences in kidney disease pathophysiology.
