Mechanisms underlying progressive polyuria in familial neurohypophysial diabetes insipidus

Familial neurohypophysial diabetes insipidus (FNDI), an autosomal dominant disorder, is mostly caused by mutations in the gene of neurophysin II (NPII), the carrier protein of arginine vasopressin (AVP). The analyses of knock-in mice expressing a mutant NPII that causes FNDI in humans demonstrated that polyuria progressed substantially in the absence of loss of AVP neurones. Morphological analyses revealed that inclusion bodies were present in the AVP neurones in the supraoptic nucleus and that the size and numbers of inclusion bodies gradually increased in parallel with the increases in urine volume. Electron microscopic analyses showed that aggregates existed in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) of AVP neurones. These data suggest that cell death is not the primary cause of polyuria in FNDI, and that the aggregate formation in the ER is likely to be related to the pathogenesis of the progressive polyuria.