IMR Press / FBL / Volume 16 / Issue 2 / DOI: 10.2741/3697

Frontiers in Bioscience-Landmark (FBL) is published by IMR Press from Volume 26 Issue 5 (2021). Previous articles were published by another publisher on a subscription basis, and they are hosted by IMR Press on imrpress.com as a courtesy and upon agreement with Frontiers in Bioscience.

Article
The regulation of cell growth and survival by aldosterone
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1 Department of Molecular Medicine, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Education and Research Centre, Beaumont Hospital, Dublin 9, Ireland. ruthdooley@rcsi.ie
Front. Biosci. (Landmark Ed) 2011, 16(2), 440–457; https://doi.org/10.2741/3697
Published: 1 January 2011
Abstract

The steroid hormone aldosterone is synthesized from cholesterol, mainly in the zona glomerulosa of the adrenal cortex. Aldosterone exerts its effects in the epithelial tissues of the kidney and colon and in non-epithelial tissues such as the brain and cardiovasculature. The genomic response to aldosterone involves dimerization of the mineralocorticoid receptor (MR), dissociation of heat shock proteins from MR, translocation of the aldosterone-MR complex to the nucleus and the concomitant regulation of gene expression. Rapid responses to aldosterone occur within seconds to minutes, do not involve transcription or translation and can modulate directly or indirectly the later genomic responses. Aside from the well-known effects of aldosterone on the regulation of sodium and water homeostasis, aldosterone can also produce deleterious structural changes in tissues by inducing hypertrophy and the dysregulation of proliferation and apoptosis, leading to fibrosis and tissue remodelling. Here we discuss the involvement of aldosterone-mediated rapid signalling cascades in the development of disease states such as chronic kidney disease and heart failure, and the antagonists that can inhibit these pathophysiological responses.

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