[The kidney and circadian rhythms: a whole new world?]

Chronobiology is a branch of biomedical sciences devoted to the study of biological rhythms. Biological rhythms exist at any level of living organisms and, according to their cycle length, may be divided into three main types: circadian, ultradian, and infradian rhythms. Circadian rhythms are the most commonly and widely studied. The principal circadian clock is located in the suprachiasmatic nucleus of the hypothalamus, and is supposed to regulate peripheral clocks via neurohumoral modulation. Circadian clocks have been identified within almost all mammalian cell types, and circadian clock genes seem to be essential for cardiovascular health. Disturbance of the renal circadian rhythms is increasingly recognized as a risk factor for hypertension, polyuria, and other diseases and may contribute to renal fibrosis. The origin of these rhythms has been attributed to the reactive response of the kidney to circadian changes in volume and/or in the composition of extracellular fluids regulated by rest/activity and feeding/fasting cycles. However, most of the renal excretory rhythms persist for long periods of time, even in the absence of periodic environmental cues. These observations led to the hypothesis of the existence of a self-sustained mechanism, enabling the kidney to anticipate various predictable circadian challenges to homeostasis. The molecular basis of this mechanism remained unknown until the recent discovery of the mammalian circadian clock, comprising a system of autoregulatory transcriptional/translational feedback loops, which have also been found in the kidney.