Basic Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2016. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Mar 28, 2016; 22(12): 3363-3371
Published online Mar 28, 2016. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v22.i12.3363
Tolvaptan regulates aquaporin-2 and fecal water in cirrhotic rats with ascites
Chao Chen, Ren-Pin Chen, Hai-Hua Lin, Wen-You Zhang, Xie-Lin Huang, Zhi-Ming Huang
Chao Chen, Ren-Pin Chen, Hai-Hua Lin, Wen-You Zhang, Xie-Lin Huang, Zhi-Ming Huang, Department of Gastroenterology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou 325000, Zhejiang Province, China
Xie-Lin Huang, Ren-Ji College of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou 325000, Zhejiang Province, China
Author contributions: Chen RP and Huang ZM designed the study; Chen C, Lin HH and Zhang WY performed the research; Chen RP provided analytic tools; Chen C and Huang XL analyzed the data; Chen C and Chen RP wrote the paper.
Supported by The Crosswise Project, No. KJHX1310.
Institutional review board statement: The study was reviewed and approved by the Wenzhou Medical University Institutional Review Board.
Institutional animal care and use committees statement: All procedures involving animals were reviewed and approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee of the Wenzhou Medical University in 2013 (NO. wydw2013-0071).
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest related to this study.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Dr. Zhi-Ming Huang, Professor, Department of Gastroenterology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Shangcai Village, Ouhai District, Wenzhou 325000, Zhejiang Province, China. wyyyhzm@126.com
Telephone: +86-577-55578033 Fax: +86-577-55578033
Received: August 7, 2015
Peer-review started: August 10, 2015
First decision: November 13, 2015
Revised: November 19, 2015
Accepted: December 8, 2015
Article in press: December 8, 2015
Published online: March 28, 2016
Core Tip

Core tip: Aquaporin (AQP)-2 is mainly expressed in the kidneys, although it has been detected in the distal colon. We confirmed its expression in the distal colon and its upregulation in cirrhotic rats with ascites. Tolvaptan is a highly potent and selective AQP-2 antagonist and is used to treat cirrhotic ascites and hyponatremia. It blocked AQP-2 expression in the distal colon after oral administration, and temporarily increased fecal water content. Fecal water content returned to baseline quickly. The results suggest that tolvaptan inhibited AQP-2 expression in the distal colon and may induce diarrhea to clear water.