CON Congenital obstructive nephropathy

Abstract Congenital obstructive nephropathy remains one of the leading causes of chronic renal failure in children. The direct link between obstructed urine flow and abnormal renal development and subsequent dysfunction represents a central paradigm of urogenital pathogenesis that has far-reaching clinical implications. Even so, a number of diagnostic, prog-nostic, and therapeutic quandaries still exist in the manage-ment of congenital obstructive nephropathy. Studies in our laboratory have characterized a unique mutant mouse line that develops in utero megabladder, variable hydronephrosis, and progressive renal failure. Megabladder mice represent a valu-able functional model for the study of congenital obstructive nephropathy. Recent studies have begun to shed light on the genetic etiology of mgb−/ − mice as well as the molecular pathways controlling disease progression in these animals