Dr. Franklin H. Epstein: Research
Acute Renal Failure
The Franklin Epstein laboratory has led in the development and exploitation of the isolated perfused rat kidney as a model to study certain aspects of renal physiology. The thrust of research in this laboratory is on the mechanisms of acute renal failure, the key role of anoxic injury in the renal medulla, and the development of preventive and therapeutic measures. In collaboration with the Department of Radiology, a non-invasive method for estimating oxygen supply to the medulla and cortex of the kidney in intact human subjects, using magnetic resonance imaging, is being investigated. This novel technique may prove useful in the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of acute renal failure, and in understanding the anemia of chronic renal disease.
Cellular Transport
Drs. Epstein and Patricio Silva (now at Temple University) have a long-standing collaboration to study factors controlling the secretion of salt by the shark rectal gland, an analog of the thick ascending limb in mammalian kidneys. At the Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory in Salsbury Cove, Maine, they have found that an analog of human atrial natriuretic factor, secreted by the heart of the shark, activated the salt gland of this animal to induce active transport of sodium chloride in the secretory direction. The cellular events responsible for this effect are under study and may clarify the actions of potent endogenous cardiac hormones in man.
