Pamela K. Carmines

Pamela K. Carmines

Professor and Vice Chair for Graduate Education
Ph.D. 1982, Indiana University
Specialty: Renal Physiology
Major Interest: Contractile signaling in renal microvascular smooth muscle; Renal complications of type 1 diabetes

Curriculum Vitae

Our work focuses primarily on elucidating the early effects of diabetes on renal function, with the goal of identifying therapeutic targets for preventing diabetic nephropathy. Moreover, the prevalence of hypertension is three times greater in patients with type 1 diabetes compared with non-diabetic individuals. Accordingly, we are investigating the impact of type 1 diabetes on renal arteriolar function and tubular sodium handling. Our studies have revealed that oxidative stress in diabetes alters both renal arteriolar function (causing vasodilation via effects on inward-rectifier K channels and calcium homeostasis) and sodium handling by the thick ascending limb (causing increased sodium reabsorption via protein kinase C-mediated activation of NADPH oxidase). Our most recent investigations implicate mitochondria as sources of reactive oxygen species during the early stage of diabetes, and this phenomenon is associated with tyrosine nitration of key mitochondrial enzymes. Future studies will not only focus on the mechanisms underlying these early events, but will also extend the scope of our work to investigate the impact of targeted antioxidant therapy on the long-term renal structural and functional changes accompanying diabetes.

 Carmines Scheme

Recent publications:

  1. Carmines PK. The renal vascular response to diabetes. Current Opinion in Nephrology & Hypertension 19: 85-90, 2010. PMCID: 19770755 PMCID: 2886724
  2. Yang J, Lane PH, Pollock JS, Carmines PK. Protein kinase C-dependent NAD(P)H oxidase activation induced by type 1 diabetes in renal medullary thick ascending limb. Hypertension55: 468-473, 2010. PMID: 20038746
  3. Yang J, Pollock JS, Carmines PK. NADPH oxidase and PKC contribute to increased Na transport by the thick ascending limb during type 1 diabetes. Hypertension59: 431-436, 2012. PMID: 22203737
  4. Troncoso Brindeiro CM, Lane PH, Carmines PK. Tempol prevents altered K+ channel regulation of afferent arteriolar tone in diabetic rat kidney. Hypertension 59: 657-664, 2012. PMID: 22252401
  5. Ishii N, Carmines PK, Yokoba M, Imaizumi H, Ichikawa T, Ikenaga H, Kodera Y, Oh-Ishi M, Aoki Y, Maeda T, Takenaka  T, Katagiri M.  Angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibition curbs tyrosine nitration of mitochondrial proteins in the renal cortex during the early stage of diabetes mellitus in rats. Clin Sci (Lond.) 124: 543–552, 2013. PMID: 23130652  PMCID: 3540783