A Discussion on the Abundance of Osmolytes.

Discussion. Abundance of osmolytes. The results of the HPLC sample demonstrate the concentrations of five key osmolytes in the papilla and cortical regions of the kidney nephron. On almost all of these occasions the concentration of each osmolyte is greater in the papilla than in the cortex. This is consistent with research by Schmolke et al, 1991, where the distribution of total organic osmolytes was found to increase progressively form the outer cortex in towards the …

…or papilla. This conclusion can be drawn because it is known that AQP-1 is heavily expressed in this region due to its water permeating function in the fine control of concentrating urine and regulating cellular volume. The other two control slides however have a diffuse distribution of the water channels, indicating that these are slices of the cortex of the nephron. This is expected because this area is known to be virtually impermeable to water.