Renal nerves and their role in physiology and disease have been a topic of increasing interest in the past few decades. Renal inflammation contributes to many cardiorenal disease conditions, including hypertension, chronic kidney disease, and polycystic kidney disease. Much is known about the role of renal sympathetic nerves in physiology – they contribute to the regulation of sodium reabsorption, renin release, and renal vascular resistance. In contrast, far less is known about afferent, or “sensory,” renal nerves, which convey signals from the kidney to the brain. While much remains unknown about these nerves in the context of normal physiology, even less is known about their contribution to disease states. Furthermore, it has become apparent that the crosstalk between renal nerves and the immune system may augment or modulate disease. Research from other fields, especially pain research, has provided critical insight into neuroimmune crosstalk. Sympathetic renal nerve activity may increase immune cell recruitment, but far less work has been done investigating the interplay between afferent renal nerves and the immune system. Evidence from other fields suggests that inflammation may augment afferent renal nerve activity. Furthermore, these nerves may exacerbate renal inflammation through the release of afferent-specific neurotransmitters.

在过去的几十年里，肾神经及其在生理学和疾病中的作用一直是一个越来越受关注的话题。肾脏炎症会导致许多心肾疾病，包括高血压、慢性肾病和多囊肾病。关于肾交感神经在生理学中的作用，人们了解很多——它们有助于调节钠重吸收、肾素释放和肾血管抵抗。相比之下，人们对传入神经或“感觉”肾神经知之甚少，它将信号从肾脏传递到大脑。虽然在正常生理学的背景下，这些神经仍有很多未知之处，但对它们对疾病状态的影响知之甚少。此外，很明显，肾神经和免疫系统之间的串扰可能会增强或调节疾病。来自其他领域的研究，尤其是疼痛研究，为神经免疫串扰提供了重要的见解。交感神经肾神经活动可能会增加免疫细胞募集，但研究传入神经和免疫系统之间相互作用的工作要少得多。来自其他领域的证据表明，炎症可能会增强传入肾神经活动。此外，这些神经可能通过释放传入特异性神经递质加剧肾脏炎症。