Mild dehydration effects on the murine kidney single nucleus transcriptome and chromatin accessibility

The kidney is composed of > 40 cell types that work collectively to maintain fluid-electrolyte balance. If not enough fluid is consumed to remain in balance, then vasopressin is released and acts in the kidney to increase water reabsorption. Here the authors used kidney single nucleus multiome-sequencing to determine cell-specific transcriptomes and chromatin accessibility profiles of male and female control (ad libitum water and food) or mildly dehydrated mice (ad libitum food, water deprivation). There were hundreds of sex- and dehydration-specific differentially expressed genes throughout the kidney, most of which did not have a significant change in chromatin accessibility. Thus, even mild dehydration causes cell- and sex-specific transcriptomic changes even though the kidney function to conserve water is the same. All are C57BL/6J mice. A male ad lib, a male water deprived, a female ad lib and a female mouse water deprived. Water was removed from the cages of the deprived mice at 3 pm. All sample collection occurred at +/-1 h at midnight (6 hours into the active period of the mice). 630 Female, Ad lib 636 Female, water deprived 638 Male, water deprived 641 Male, Ad lib