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Involvement of Mesangial Cells Expressing -Smooth Muscle Actin During Restorative Glomerular Remodeling in Thy-1.1 Nephritis

Koichiro Ichimura, Hidetake Kurihara and Tatsuo Sakai

Department of Anatomy, Juntendo University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan

Correspondence to: Dr. Hidetake Kurihara, Department of Anatomy, Juntendo University School of Medicine, 2-1-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8421, Japan. E-mail: hidetake{at}med.juntendo.ac.jp

The function of actin cytoskeleton in mesangial cells (MCs) during the recovering process of injured glomeruli is not fully understood. MCs in injured glomeruli express -smooth muscle actin (-SMA), which is not detected in normal glomeruli. We focused on the localization of -SMA in MCs of Thy-1.1 nephritic rat. Expression of -SMA in the injured glomeruli peaked at day 5 after antibody injection and then declined gradually. At day 5, MCs, where -SMA was localized at their cytoplasmic processes situated in various positions, occupied the expanded mesangium. MCs expressing -SMA tended to be located at the peripheral region close to the glomerular basement membrane (GBM) or endothelial cells at day 8. Localization of -SMA within the peripheral MCs was restricted to the cytoplasmic processes radiating toward the GBM and touching it with their tips at day 8. These -SMA-containing processes are suitable to transmit the contractile force to GBM and may contribute to normalize the expanded glomerular volume. In addition, an actin-binding protein, drebrin, was localized in all MC processes extending toward various directions throughout the course of nephritis, suggesting that drebrin is involved in the formation of MC processes. (J Histochem Cytochem 54:1291–1301, 2006)

Key Words: glomerulus • actin cytoskeleton • proliferative glomerulonephritis • angiogenesis • tissue repair • drebrin

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