Grant: New Investigator Award - Priority Announcement: Clinical Research

There is a widespread recognition that Aboriginal people have a dramatically increased risk of kidney disease compared to the general population, though the reasons behind this discrepancy are unclear. Despite this ever-increasing burden of kidney disease with its associated morbidity, mortality and cost to the Canadian health care system, the renal physiology, and specifically the renin-angiotensin system (RAS), of the Canadian Aboriginal people has never been studied. The knowledge that the RAS is operative in this population could lead to rational treatments to delay progression, or even prevent initiation, of kidney disease. It is the central hypothesis of this proposal that in the high-salt state (a state of maximal RAS suppression), healthy Aboriginal people will exhibit increased renal and systemic RAS activity, activation of which results in a predisposition to glomerulosclerosis and ultimately, kidney failure. These experiments will be conducted in young, healthy Aboriginal and Caucasian subjects who are on a controlled sodium and protein diet. Renal hemodynamic function will be assessed using classic inulin and para-aminohippurate (PAH) clearance techniques.