Grant: Project Grant

Two of the major health problems caused by a high salt (sodium chloride) diet are kidney disease and stroke. People with a high salt diet develop high blood pressure and this puts stress on their kidneys. We found that high salt made kidney disease worse by producing inflammation, protein in the urine, and kidney scarring. The high salt can also damage the blood vessels through inflammatory processes. When the blood vessels become damaged, they can no longer regulate the flow of blood to the brain and the kidney. This causes further damage leading to kidney failure, and stroke in the brain. We have also found a new way to prevent blood vessel dysfunction using drugs that regulate protein production. We want to test more specific drugs that have just been discovered that regulate protein production to preserve blood vessel function. If successful, these studies will provide new avenues to prevent kidney disease and stroke associated with high salt intake. Canadians have had a high salt diet for a long time. This has caused considerable damage to many people in our population and put them at risk of both kidney disease and stroke. We would like to provide people with better information to show why high dietary sodium chloride may be harmful, helping them choose a healthy diet. Also, we would like to develop new drugs that can prevent some of the negative effects of unhealthy diets that have already occurred in Canada.