Morphologic evaluation and integrin expression profile of renal tubular cells cultured from percutaneous renal biopsy specimen

Kidney biopsy is an indispensible procedure for making a pathologic diagnos is of renal diseases by fixing and staining the biopsy specimen. However, i t is not a routine procedure to culture the cells from a renal biopsy speci men directly, or to utilize the cultured cells for any kind of diagnostic o r functional evaluation. In this study, primary culture of the renal tubular epithelial cells was tr ied from a piece of percutaneous kidney biopsy specimen. Successive passage s of the cells were possible until fourth passage. With these cells, morphologic characteristics of the cultured cells and int egrin expression profiles were investigated. On light and electron microscopy, these cells were characterized by the cob blestone-like growth, presence of microvilli and tight junction, and the pr eservation of polarity. Immunohistochemical studies demonstrated the epithe lial nature of these cells and particularly their differentiation from rena l tubular epithelial cells, of either proximal or distal nephronic segment. The integrin profile confirms the epithelial nature of the cell. We hope t hat our results facilitate the understanding of pathophysiology of renal tu bular cells from the patient directly.