Tengis Pavlov, PhD

Titles

• Associate Scientist-Hypertension and Vascular Research Division, Henry Ford Hospital
• Assistant Scientist/Assistant Professor (FTA) of Physiology – Wayne State University

Areas of Interest

Ion channels in renal and cardiovascular diseases.

Research Interests

Ion channels are proteins residing in the plasma membrane of each cell. They conduct sodium, potassium, chloride, and other charged particles to maintain cellular homeostasis and electrolyte balance in the body, generate and conduct excitation in neural, sensory and muscular tissues, and regulate membrane potential. In the kidney, ion channels are responsible for electrolyte transport across epithelial barriers. The central functions of the kidney – filtration, reabsorption, and secretion – are mediated by epithelial transport facilitated by ion channels and transporters.

The primary direction of my research is studying polycystic kidney diseases marked by progressive cyst formation in the renal tubules that ultimately leads to renal insufficiency, hypertension, and end-stage renal disease. Recently we identified that the ion channel pannexin-1 causes pathogenic accumulation of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) in the cysts leading to disease progression. We have developed a new method of patch-clamp and imaging in freshly isolated cystic epithelial monolayers and implemented it to demonstrate impaired epithelial sodium channel (ENaC) activity and reveal abnormal ATP release and purinergic signaling in cyst lining cells.

Another direction of our research studies the involvement of renal ion channels in blood pressure regulation. It is commonly accepted that increased renal sodium handling and plasma volume expansion are necessary factors for the development of hypertension. Earlier we demonstrated that high salt consumption causes ENaC hyperactivity and salt retention that contributes to the development of high blood pressure in Dahl salt-sensitive rats. Currently, we are focusing on an underdeveloped aspect of salt-sensitive hypertension – why high blood pressure sustains after normalization of salt intake and what how reactive oxygen species production contributes to sodium retention.

We use genetic modifications in whole animals, perform chronic in vivo studies such as radiotelemetry, patch-clamp electrophysiology, multi-photon microscopy, cell culture, molecular biology, and many other approaches.