KIDNEY RESEARCH
The prevalence of chronic kidney disease (CKD) is rising worldwide and currently 10-15% of the global population suffer from CKD and its devastating complications. Given the increasing prevalence of CKD there is an urgent need to find novel treatment options. The American black bear (Ursus americanus) hibernates for up to seven months annually. During this period, they do not eat, drink, urinate, or defecate. Bear hibernation is a state similar to prolonged sleep during which body temperature is reduced by 1-8áµ’C, there is a 20-50% reduction in metabolic rate with a depressed heart rate, renal function decreases by 70%, the volume of urine produced is reduced by 95%, and there are signs of renal damage after hibernation. At the end of hibernation, the bear kidney is comparable to that of a human dialysis patient. We know that in humans, a dialysis patient does not recover unless they receive a kidney transplant. However, through unknown mechanisms, bears are able to regain full kidney function after coming out of hibernation and there are no signs of damage after several months. Understanding these mechanisms could lead to creating novel therapies for treating human CKD, recovery from acute kidney injury, and protecting the kidney from ischemic damage during transplantation.