The renal papilla is a niche for adult kidney stem cells

Many adult organs contain stem cells, which are pluripotent and are involved in organ maintenance and repair after injury. In situ, these cells often have a low cycling rate and locate in specialized regions (niches). To detect such cells in the kidney, we administered a pulse of the nucleotide brom...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Journal of clinical investigation 2004-09, Vol.114 (6), p.795-804
Main Authors: Oliver, Juan A, Maarouf, Omar, Cheema, Faisal H, Martens, Timothy P, Al-Awqati, Qais
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aging
Animals
Apoptosis
Biomedical research
Bromodeoxyuridine - analysis
Cell Culture Techniques - methods
Cell cycle
Cell division
Cell Division - physiology
Flow Cytometry
Ischemia
Ischemia - pathology
Kidney Medulla - cytology
Kidney Medulla - growth & development
Kidneys
Mice
Microscopy
Rats
Rats, Sprague-Dawley
Renal Circulation
Repair & maintenance
Stem cells
Stem Cells - cytology
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Summary:Many adult organs contain stem cells, which are pluripotent and are involved in organ maintenance and repair after injury. In situ, these cells often have a low cycling rate and locate in specialized regions (niches). To detect such cells in the kidney, we administered a pulse of the nucleotide bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) to rat and mouse pups and, after a long (more than 2-month) chase, examined whether the kidney contained a population of low-cycling cells. We found that in the adult kidney, BrdU-retaining cells were very sparse except in the renal papilla, where they were numerous. During the repair phase of transient renal ischemia, these cells entered the cell cycle and the BrdU signal quickly disappeared from the papilla, despite the absence of apoptosis in this part of the kidney. In vitro isolation of renal papillary cells showed them to have a plastic phenotype that could be modulated by oxygen tension and that when injected into the renal cortex, they incorporated into the renal parenchyma. In addition, like other stem cells, papillary cells spontaneously formed spheres. Single-cell clones of these cells coexpressed mesenchymal and epithelial proteins and gave rise to myofibroblasts, cells expressing neuronal markers, and cells of uncharacterized phenotype. These data indicate that the renal papilla is a niche for adult kidney stem cells.
ISSN:0021-9738
1558-8238
DOI:10.1172/JCI20921