A novel chamber designed to quantify real-time renal cell response to hypoxia and/or pressure

Kidney damage and/or failure caused by urinary obstruction affects thousands of patients each year. It has been hypothesized that hypoxia and/or elevated levels of hydrostatic pressure within the kidney during obstruction contribute to renal failure. However, little research has been performed to verify this claim. Investigators have examined the effects of a single stimuli, hypoxia or elevated pressure, on renal cells and have observed functional changes, including cytoskeletal rearrangement However, during obstruction in vivo, these insults are not likely to be present in isolation. In fact, it may be the synergistic effect of these combined stimuli that leads to renal failure. Therefore, an optically compatible chamber has been designed and constructed to monitor and quantify in vitro cellular changes resulting from the combined stimuli. Real-time renal cell response can be recorded using this novel chamber, an inverted fluorescent microscope, and a computer. Ultimately, an understanding of how hypoxia and/or elevated pressure induce functional changes at the cellular level may provide insight into disease pathologies and lead to the development of novel drug and prevention therapies for renal failure.