Distinguished Scientist Seminar Series featuring Roslyn Mannon, MD & Elinor Mannon, PhD

IN PERSON
Distinguished Scientist Seminar Series

Roslyn Mannon, MD
Professor of Medicine
Associate Chief of Research, Division of Nephrology
Vice Chair, Research, Department of Internal Medicine
University of Nebraska Medical Center
&
Elinor Mannon, PhD
MD Candidate – MCG Class of 2024
Medical College of Georgia, Augusta University

Location: New Research Building Auditorium and via Zoom: https://georgetown.zoom.us/j/94358558548

Titles & Abstracts:

“The Failing Kidney Allograft: Mechanisms and Management” (Roslyn Mannon)

This presentation will highlight the mechanisms leading to late allograft injury, potential interventions, and review the recommendations by the recent KDIGO controversies meeting in 2022 as well as available published evidence.

“Beyond being basic: Sodium bicarbonate’s effects on kidney function, blood pressure, and inflammation” (Elinor Mannon)

Sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3) is a treatment for metabolic acidosis, a common sequalae of chronic kidney disease (CKD). Further, several small clinical trials have now shown a benefit of NaHCO3 supplementation on slowing glomerular filtration rate (GFR) decline in people with CKD. As such, NaHCO3 is now used commonly in the clinical setting to slow the progression of CKD. Despite its use, relatively little is known about the effects of chronic alkali supplementation in people with CKD. While it is well known that increasing sodium chloride (NaCl) intake in patients with CKD and in animals with renal mass reduction promotes the development of hypertension, it remains unclear if NaHCO3 similarly promotes hypertension in this setting. Our data indicate that both NaHCO3 and NaCl promote hypertension in remnant kidney rats, but that drinking NaHCO3 was significantly less pro-hypertensive than drinking equimolar NaCl. These differences in blood pressure occurred despite similar amounts of sodium (Na+) with each treatment. While the mechanism for this remains unclear, Na+ loading has been observed to promote inflammatory phenotypes in different immune cell populations such as T-lymphocytes and macrophages. More recent data has indicated that while NaHCO3 corrects metabolic acidosis in patients with CKD and even in those who have received kidney transplants, there was no beneficial effect on slowing the rate of GFR decline. Taken together, these data suggest that while NaHCO3 may be an accessible therapeutic with clinical utility in CKD, its use in this setting should not come without considerations regarding off-target effects.