Phospholipase A2 receptor (PLA2R) expressed in human podocytes has been highlighted as a causative autoantigen of human idiopathic membranous nephropathy. However, its expression was found to be minimal or absent in murine and rat podocytes. In this study, immunofluorescence revealed the expression of PLA2R in the glomerular podocytes in the kidney tissue sections of dogs. We then attempted to ...

Experimental and clinical studies impressively demonstrate that angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEI) and angiotensin receptor blockers (ARB) significantly reduce proteinuria and retard progression of glomerular disease. The underlying intraglomerular mechanisms are not yet fully elucidated. As podocyte injury constitutes a critical step in the pathogenesis of glomerular proteinuria, ...

PURPOSE To investigate apoptosis of podocytes induced by IgA1 isolated from IgA nephropathy (IgAN) patients through direct and indirect pathways. METHODS Jacalin affinity chromatography and Sephacryl S-200 molecular sieve chromatography were used to isolate IgA1 from blood of IgAN patients made as aggregated IgA1 (aIgA1). Podocytes were incubated with aIgA1 or special treated medium from mesa...

Albuminuria is a strong and independent predictor of kidney disease progression but the mechanisms of albumin handling by the kidney remain to be fully defined. Previous studies have shown that podocytes endocytose albumin. Here we demonstrate that Shank2, a large scaffolding protein originally identified at the neuronal postsynaptic density, is expressed in podocytes in vivo and in vitro and p...

Our previous in vitro studies suggested that cyclic AMP (cAMP) signaling prevents adriamycin (ADR) and puromycin aminonucleoside (PAN)-induced apoptosis in podocytes. As cAMP is an important second messenger and plays a key role in cell proliferation, differentiation and cytoskeleton formation via protein kinase A (PKA) or exchange protein directly activated by cAMP (Epac) pathways, we sought t...

BACKGROUND Both, increased plasma concentrations of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and increased expression of transient receptor potential canonical type 6 (TRPC6) channels in podocytes have been associated with proteinuric kidney diseases. Now, we investigated the hypothesis that VEGF regulates TRPC6 in podocytes. METHODS TRPC6 messenger RNA (mRNA) and TRPC6 protein expression we...

The effect of diabetes in vivo has not been examined on isolated podocytes. To achieve this, GFP was expressed constitutively in podocytes of PGFP transgenic mice which were bred to OVE mice to produce diabetic OVE-GFP mice. Viewing GFP fluorescence, foot processes of OVE-GFP podocytes were visually and measurably effaced, which did not occur with less severe STZ diabetes. Over 300,000 podocyte...

We have previously documented that human mesangial cell (HMC)-derived TNF-alpha is an important mediator involved in the glomerulo-tubular communication in the development of interstitial damage in IgA nephropathy (IgAN). With the strategic position of podocytes, we further examined the role of mesangial cells in the activation of podocytes in IgAN. There was no binding of IgA from patients wit...

Experimental and clinical studies impressively demonstrate that angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEI) and angiotensin receptor blockers (ARB) significantly reduce proteinuria and retard progression of glomerular disease. The underlying intraglomerular mechanisms are not yet fully elucidated. As podocyte injury constitutes a critical step in the pathogenesis of glomerular proteinuria, ...

Podocytes have been shown to express classical cadherins in the early stage of glomerulogenesis, but it remains unclear whether podocytes in normal and pathological conditions express cadherins in the adult stage. To address this question, rat podocytes in the neonate, the adult and in puromycin aminonucleoside (PAN) nephrosis were examined by immunofluorescence microscopy using antibodies agai...