Expression of NEDD4L and ENaC in Urinary Extracellular Vesicles in Pre-eclampsia

Objective: To assess changes in expression of renal epithelial sodium channel (ENaC) and NEDD4L, a ubiquitin ligase, in urinary extracellular vesicles (UEV) of pre-eclamptic women compared to normal pregnant controls.

Methods: Urine was collected from pre-eclamptic women (PE,  = 20) or during normal pregnancy (NP,  = 20). UEV were separated by differential ultracentrifugation. NEDD4L, α-ENaC and γ-ENaC were identified by immunoblotting.

Results: There was no difference in the expression of NEDD4L ( = 0.17) and α-ENaC ( = 0.10). PE subjects showed increased expression of γ-ENaC by 6.9-fold compared to NP ( < 0.0001).

Conclusion: ENaC expression is upregulated in UEV of pre-eclamptic subjects but was not associated with changes in NEDD4L.