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Tracy Hampton, PhD

JAMA. 2004;292:1537-1538.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

As every medical student is taught, water constitutes about two thirds of the body, and the physiological activities that rely on water are numerous and diverse. With water playing such a crucial role in human life, getting it to where it is needed is equally important. While simple diffusion of water molecules across cell membranes occurs in some cases, regulated trafficking in and out of cells is often required.

Defects in aquaporins, proteins that act as water channels, have been linked to diseases such as diabetes and glaucoma. Photo credit: AAAS (Science. 2001;294:2353-2357)

That is where aquaporins come in. Although scientists suspected that such water channels existed, it was not until the early 1990s that aquaporins were discovered in the laboratory of Peter Agre, MD, of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, in Baltimore, Md.

Researchers are now learning that a wide range of clinical . . . [Full Text of this Article]

DISCOVERY BY CHANCE



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