SGLT2 inhibitors are best known as diabetes drugs, but their role in protecting the kidneys has made them increasingly important in kidney disease research.
Doctors have long observed that patients taking these medications often experience slower kidney decline, yet the biological reasons have remained unclear.
A new laboratory study published in Kidney International offers fresh insight by examining kidney aging in an unusual experimental model.
Why kidney aging matters
Kidney function naturally declines with age, increasing the risk of chronic kidney disease, especially among people with diabetes.
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Understanding how aging damages kidney tissue is therefore a key research priority.
According to HealthDay, this has driven scientists to explore whether drugs developed for diabetes might also interfere with the biological processes behind kidney aging.
Fast-aging fish
Instead of studying patients, researchers used the African turquoise killifish, a species that lives only a few months and ages extremely quickly.
HealthDay reports that this makes the fish a useful model for observing age-related organ damage within a short timeframe.
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As the fish aged, their kidneys developed changes similar to those seen in humans, including reduced blood supply, increased inflammation, and impaired energy production in kidney cells, according to the Kidney International paper.
What the drug changed
Fish treated with SGLT2 inhibitors showed markedly healthier kidneys.
The study found that they retained more small blood vessels, had lower levels of inflammation, and maintained kidney cell function closer to that of younger fish.
Senior researcher Hermann Haller of the MDI Biological Laboratory said in a press release that the protective effects of SGLT2 inhibitors have been known clinically, but not well explained biologically.
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Study author Anastasia Paulmann of Hannover Medical School added that it was striking how many kidney functions improved at once, suggesting that the drug influences several aging-related mechanisms simultaneously.
Sources: HealthDay, and Kidney International.
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