Cell culture from rat renal glomeruli

The primary culture of rat renal glomeruli was found to result in the ready outgrowth of two cells types. One type designated c-cells were cytokeratin positive and exhibited microvilli and cilia. The second type designated f-cells were vimentin positive and showed rugose surfaces. C-cells were polygonal in culture on plastic surfaces and were derived from cells of parietal epithelial origin. F-cells assumed a more extended form on plastic and were judged to be a sub-set of parietal epithelial cells. Neither cell type was derived from the visceral epithelium which was found to have been destroyed during isolation of the glomeruli. When cultured on isolated glomerular basement membrane both the c-cells and f-cells assumed a polygonal morphology but when grown on Matrigel the cells assumed the form of long strands interconnecting the outgrowths between the glomeruli. The appearance of the cells in the strands, judged from scanning electron microscopy, suggested that these were formed from f-cells but other cell types were entrained in the structures. Glomeruli subjected to vigorous proteinase digestion of the basement membrane allowed culture of a wider variety of cells. These included endothelial cells, judged by OX-43 antibody and anti-von Willebrand Factor staining, and mesangial cells. In cultures from glomeruli polygonal cells are often assumed to be visceral epithelial cells, the results from this study indicate that this assumption is unsound. The very different behaviour of cells grown on isolated basement membrane as compared with cells grown on Matrigel suggests that Matrigel may not faithfully mimic basement membrane with respect to cell response in culture.