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Nestin Expression in Adult and Developing Human Kidney

Eugenio Bertelli, Marì Regoli, Luciano Fonzi, Rossella Occhini, Susanna Mannucci, Leonardo Ermini and Paolo Toti

Department of Pharmacology "Giorgio Segre" (EB,MR,LF), Department of Human Pathology and Oncology, Policlinico Le Scotte (RO,SM,PT), and Department of Evolutionary Biology (LE), University of Siena, Siena, Italy

Correspondence to: Eugenio Bertelli, Dept. of Pharmacology "Giorgio Segre", Section of Anatomy, University of Siena, Via Aldo Moro 4, I-53100 Siena, Italy. E-mail: bertelli5{at}unisi.it

Nestin is considered a marker of neurogenic and myogenic precursor cells. Its arrangement is regulated by cyclin-dependent kinase 5 (CDK5), which is expressed in murine podocytes. We investigated nestin expression in human adult and fetal kidney as well as CDK5 presence in adult human podocytes. Confocal microscopy demonstrated that adult glomeruli display nestin immunoreactivity in vimentin-expressing cells with the podocyte morphology and not in cells bearing the endothelial marker CD31. Glomerular nestin-positive cells were CDK5 immunoreactive as well. Western blotting of the intermediate filament-enriched cytoskeletal fraction and coimmunoprecipitation of nestin with anti-CDK5 antibodies confirmed these results. Nestin was also detected in developing glomeruli within immature podocytes and a few other cells. Confocal microscopy of experiments conducted with antibodies against nestin and endothelial markers demonstrated that endothelial cells belonging to capillaries invading the lower cleft of S-shaped bodies and the immature glomeruli were nestin immunoreactive. Similar experiments carried out with antibodies raised against nestin and -smooth muscle actin showed that the first mesangial cells that populate the developing glomeruli expressed nestin. In conclusion, nestin is expressed in the human kidney from the first steps of glomerulogenesis within podocytes, mesangial, and endothelial cells. This expression, restricted to podocytes in mature glomeruli, appears associated with CDK5. (J Histochem Cytochem 55:411–421, 2007)

Key Words: nestin • podocytes • cyclin-dependent kinase 5 • CD31 • -smooth muscle actin • immunohistochemistry • confocal microscopy

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