Expression of NEDD4L and ENaC in Urinary Extracellular Vesicles in Pre-eclampsia

ABSTRACT

Objective

To assess changes in expression of renal epithelial sodium channel (ENaC) and NEDD4L, a ubiquitin ligase, in urinary extracellular vesicles (UEV) of pre-eclamptic women compared to normal pregnant controls.

Methods

Urine was collected from pre-eclamptic women (PE, n = 20) or during normal pregnancy (NP, n = 20). UEV were separated by differential ultracentrifugation. NEDD4L, α-ENaC and γ-ENaC were identified by immunoblotting.

Results

There was no difference in the expression of NEDD4L (p = 0.17) and α-ENaC (p = 0.10). PE subjects showed increased expression of γ-ENaC by 6.9-fold compared to NP (p < 0.0001).

Conclusion

ENaC expression is upregulated in UEV of pre-eclamptic subjects but was not associated with changes in NEDD4L.

KEYWORDS:

• Pre-eclampsia
• epithelial sodium channel
• ubiquitin ligase
• NEDD4L
• urinary extracellular vesicles

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by a Research Training Program Scholarship from the University of Melbourne.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Authors’ contributions

PL: separation of urinary extracellular vesicles, immunoblot analysis and densitometry, statistical analysis, preparation of figures and tables, initial draft of manuscript, revisions to manuscript, approval of final draft of manuscript. MK: contribution to study design, separation of urinary extracellular vesicles, Western blot analysis and densitometry, statistical analysis, revisions to manuscript, approval of final draft of manuscript. SWC: identification of potential participants, revisions to manuscript, approval of final draft of manuscript. NC: contribution to study design, revisions to manuscript, approval of final draft of manuscript. ML: revisions to manuscript, approval of final draft of manuscript. KP: identification of potential participants, revisions to manuscript, approval of final draft of manuscript. AA: identification and recruitment of participants, revisions to manuscript, approval of final draft of manuscript. JM: contribution to study design, immunoblot analysis and interpretation, revisions to manuscript, approval of final draft of manuscript. PM: contribution to study design, statistical analysis, preparation of figures and tables, revisions to manuscript, approval of final draft of manuscript. DP: initiation of study design, overall supervision of the project, statistical analysis, revisions to manuscript, primary responsibility for final draft of manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Supplemental data

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/10641955.2023.2232029.

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported that there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.