In Sync with the Kidney: Reciprocal Regulation of Renal Circadian Rhythms

Circadian rhythms regulate the time of day at which various physiological processes take place, including the functions of the kidney. This regulation is made possible by key transcriptional regulators: the core molecular circadian clock, which mediates expression of clock-controlled genes on a 24-h cycle. The present landscape of circadian rhythm research in the kidney spans impacts on the clinical level as well as in basic research, where its role in individual kidney cell types, disease states, and the impacts of environmental stressors is being studied. Recent research has also identified sex differences, cross talk between various tissues, and immune signaling as important considerations for understanding the circadian clocks within the kidney. This review synthesizes the current knowledge of circadian rhythms of the kidney in regard to these issues and stresses the importance of time of day in research as well as in patient health.