The research group of Kanazawa University et al. Revealed for the first time in the world that "D-amino acid", which has become identifiable in recent years, is produced by kidney and intestinal bacteria and has a renal protective effect.

 The kidney not only produces urine and excretes waste products from the body, but also maintains homeostasis of the living body in cooperation with multiple organs.On the other hand, recent reports have focused on the fact that the intestinal flora (a population of bacteria that inhabit the intestine) is related to human health and changes depending on the disease. Worked on elucidating the relationship.

 First, when normal mice were treated to induce renal damage, certain intestinal bacteria changed.The same treatment on sterile mice without gut bacteria exacerbated renal damage compared to normal mice, indicating that gut bacteria produce some protective factor for the kidneys.

 Subsequent comprehensive analysis to identify this factor revealed a variety of D-amino acids in gut microbiota, of which D-serine was detected in the kidney.Since D-serine was not detected in sterile mice, it was considered that D-serine was produced by intestinal bacteria and reached the kidney via blood.In addition, the synthesis of D-serine by the kidney was also enhanced after the disorder.

 Finally, the effect of D-serine on the kidney was investigated. Mice treated with D-serine had milder renal damage than mice not treated with D-serine, demonstrating that D-serine acts protectively against the kidneys.

 This result, which elucidated the renal-intestinal linkage in which the intestinal flora changes in response to renal damage, and the mechanism by which intestinal bacteria produce D-amino acids and protect the kidneys via blood, is the result of using D-amino acids. It is expected to be utilized for the development of new targeted kidney disease biomarkers and therapeutic agents.

Paper information:[The Journal of Clinical Investigation Insight] Gut microbiota–derived D-serine protects against acute kidney injury

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