Pufferfish Finding May Help Liver Patients

U.S. and Japanese scientists say a protein that excretes ammonia through pufferfish gills may help in the treatment of liver and kidney disease.

A report in the April issue of the journal FASEB says the pufferfish protein is similar to human Rh blood proteins.

Scientists say new treatments using Rh blood proteins may help people with damaged livers and kidneys remove toxic ammonia from their bloodstream.

Rh proteins are important targets for treatment of high toxic blood ammonia levels that occur in liver disease, said Shigehisa Hirose, co-author of the study. Our findings also indicate that the ammonia transport system involving Rh glycoproteins is evolutionally conserved in a broad range of organisms, suggesting an essential role for surviving.

Ammonia toxicity can cause mild to severe confusion, drowsiness or tremors. At high levels, ammonia toxicity leads to coma and eventually death.

This study has broad implications for practically any disease or trauma affecting the liver or kidneys, said Dr. Gerald Weissmann, Editor in Chief of The FASEB Journal. And the evolutionary implications make it even more compelling — hook, line and sinker.