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Isolation and Propagation of Glomerular Mesangial Cells

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Kidney Research

Part of the book series: Methods in Molecular Biology ((MIMB,volume 466))

Abstract

Cultures of glomerular mesangial cells (MC) of rodent or human origin have been extensively employed in renal research laboratories since the early 1980s. Cultured MC retain extensive analogies with the fairly undifferentiated in vivo phenotype of an intercapillary mesenchymal cell population, i.e., a myofibroblast. MC proliferating in response to mitogens and growth factors can be growth-arrested by withdrawal of serum or 3D culture in collagen gels. They synthesize an extracellular matrix that includes interstitial collagens and has analogies with the glomerular basement membrane; a prominent cytoskeleton acts as a functional contractile apparatus. Cultured MC have been extensively employed as a tool for studying pathophysiological events such as mesangial expansion, scarring, and glomerulosclerosis. Current technology for MC isolation and culture is reviewed, with emphasis on methodological issues relevant to characterization, propagation, and long-term maintenance of homogeneous clones.

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  1. Division of Nephrology, Department of Clinical Sciences, University of Rome “La Sapienza”, Rome, Italy

    Paolo Menè

  2. Department of Experimental Medicine and Pathology, University of Rome “La Sapienza”, Rome, Italy

    Antonella Stoppacciaro

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  1. Paolo Menè
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  2. Antonella Stoppacciaro
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    © 2009 Humana Press, a part of Springer Science+Business Media, LLC

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    Menè, P., Stoppacciaro, A. (2009). Isolation and Propagation of Glomerular Mesangial Cells. In: Becker, G., Hewitson, T. (eds) Kidney Research. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 466. Humana Press. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-59745-352-3_1

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    • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-59745-352-3_1

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    • Publisher Name: Humana Press

    • Print ISBN: 978-1-58829-945-1

    • Online ISBN: 978-1-59745-352-3

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