Ammonia Upregulates Membrane Channel Associated with Autoimmune Conditions in Astrocytes~!

"Ammonium chloride induced upregulation of aquaporin-4 in astrocytes is regulated by the p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase pathway. Inhibiting p38 activation prevented ammonium chloride induced aquaporin-4 protein upregulation." It has been suggested that aquaporins are responsible for autoimmune-type conditions including MS and past studies show it upregulates the inflammatory cytokine that initiates the inflammatory cascade that increases oxidative stress via NO.

CiteULike: Ammonia induces upregulation of aquaporin-4 in neocortical astrocytes of rats through the p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase pathway.:


Reference: (2005). Aquaporin-4, water channel protein implicated in a disorder similar to multiple sclerosis. http://www.citeulike.org/user/HEIRS/article/7859740
Sinke, A. P., Jayakumar, A. R., Panickar, K. S., Moriyama, M., Reddy, P. V., and Norenberg, M. D. (2008). Nfkappab in the mechanism of ammonia-induced astrocyte swelling in culture. Journal of neurochemistry, 106(6):2302-2311.