Endocrine regulation of homeostasis of water, electrolytes, and organic solutes is crucial for maintaining physiological balance and ensuring survival. This area of research focuses on the body's ability to regulate water intake and clearance, as well as the renal elimination and reabsorption of solutes such as salts, glucose, and urea. The antidiuretic system, primarily through the action of arginine-vasopressin (AVP) produced by the hypothalamus, plays a central role in maintaining the balance between plasma and urine osmolality. However, other endocrine factors, including the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system, natriuretic peptides, and gastrointestinal hormones, also influence AVP secretion and its peripheral activities, thereby regulating the reabsorption of organic salts and solutes in the kidney. Recent scientific interest has surged in water and electrolyte disorders, particularly diabetes insipidus and hypotonic hyponatremia, due to new diagnostic approaches and therapeutic advances. Despite these developments, there remains a need for accurate, practical non-osmotic stimuli for AVP release, reliable assessments of extracellular fluid volume and sodium content, and direct comparisons of the efficacy of organic solutes versus other therapeutic approaches for treating hypotonic hyponatremia.
This Research Topic aims to gather new evidence in the pathophysiology of AVP and the management of water and electrolyte disturbances resulting from AVP deficiency, resistance, or impaired regulation. Specifically, we seek to deepen the understanding of the pathophysiological conditions of hyperhydration and dehydration, as well as the balance of organic solutes, to improve diagnostic and therapeutic approaches to extracellular fluid disorders. By addressing these objectives, this collection will contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of the endocrine regulation of homeostasis and its implications for health and disease.
To gather further insights into the endocrine regulation of water, electrolytes, and organic solutes, we welcome articles addressing, but not limited to, the following themes:
- Secretion, peripheral action, and regulation of AVP
- Water and electrolyte disorders, including syndrome of inappropriate antidiuresis, hypotonic hyponatremia, diabetes insipidus, and hypernatremia
- Evaluation of extracellular fluid volume and new insights into the pathophysiology of dehydration and hyperhydration
- Regulation of the balance of organic solutes and their therapeutic application in hydro-electrolyte disorders
Keywords: Arginine-vasopressin, extracellular fluid volume, urea, glucose metabolism, hypotonic hyponatremia, diabetes insipidus
Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
