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Cell Technologies in Biology and Medicine, No. 2, 2009
539
Expression of Neural Stem Cell Marker Nestin in the Kidney of Rats and Humans
O. V. Kirik and D. E. Korzhevskii
Translated from Kletochnye Tekhnologii v Biologii i Meditsine, No. 2, pp. 105-107, 2009 Original article submitted June 9, 2008
Nestin is present in podocytes of the renal corpuscle in rats and humans. Specific differences manifested in more intensive and widespread expression of nestin by endothelial cells of blood vessels in human kidney.
Key Words: kidney; podocytes; blood vessels; nestin; mammals
Nestin, an intermediate filament protein, plays a role in cytoskeleton formation in neural stem cells (NSC) [1]. Little is known about functional role of various proteins that form intermediate filaments in cells of various histogenetic types. Typing of biopsy specimens by the profile of intermediate filament proteins is an important method of modern histopathology [4]. During embryogenesis, nestin is expressed not only by NSC, but also by myogenic cells and other immature cells [5]. Published data show that nestin is present in highly differentiated cells, including podocytes of the renal corpuscle (RC) [5,7].
Species differences were revealed in the expression of intermediate filament proteins. It is interesting to compare the synthesis of nestin by renal cells in laboratory mammals and humans.
This work was designed to identify nestin-expressing cells in the kidney of rats and humans.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Experiments were performed on kidney fragments from 12 male adult outbred rats (Rappolovo) and 5 adult humans (death not associated with diseases of the excretory system). The samples were obtained during elective biopsy and had no signs of autolysis. They were fixed with 2% formalin in 80% ethanol, 10% formalin, and zincethanolfor-
maldehyde [2]. After fixation, the samples were dehydrated and embedded...