Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Plasticity of Renin Cells in the Kidney Vasculature

  • Hot Topic
  • Published:
Current Hypertension Reports Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

During development, renin cells are precursors for arteriolar smooth muscle, mesangial cells, and interstitial pericytes. Those seemingly differentiated descendants retain the memory to re-express renin when there is a threat to homeostasis. Understanding how such molecular memory is constructed and regulated would be crucial to comprehend cell identity which is, in turn, intimately linked to homeostasis.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

Papers of particular interest, published recently, have been highlighted as: •• Of major importance

  1. Keeton TK, Campbell WB. The pharmacological alteration of renin release. Pharmacol Rev. 1980;32:81–227.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Gomez RA, Sequeira Lopez MLS. Novel functions of renin precursors in homeostasis and disease. Physiology. 2015;31:25–33.

    Article  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  3. Cantin M, Araujo-Nascimento M, Benchimol S, Desormeaux Y. Metaplasia of smooth muscle cells into juxtaglomerular cells in the juxtaglomerular apparatus, arteries, and arterioles of the ischemic (endocrine) kidney. Am J Pathol. 1977;87:581–602.

    CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  4. ••Gomez RA, Chevalier RL, Everett AD, Elwood JP, Peach MJ, Lynch KR, et al. Recruitment of renin gene expressing cells in the adult rat kidney. Am J Physiol. 1990;259:F660F665. This study demonstrated that “recruitment” was due to an increase in the number of smooth muscle cells expressing the renin gene. It was further proposed that native/resident vascular smooth muscle cells were transformed an induced to express renin in order to control homeostasis.

    Google Scholar 

  5. Everett AD, Carey RM, Peach MJ, Gomez RA. Renin release and gene expression in intact rat kidney microvessels and single cells. J Clin Invest. 1990;86:169–75.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  6. ••Brunskill EW, Sequeira Lopez MLS, Pentz ES, Lin E, Yu J, Aronow BJ, et al. The genes that confer the identity of the renin cell. J Am Soc Nephrol. 2011;22:2213–25. In addition to recording the core set of genes that characterize the renin cells, AKR1B7 is identified for the first time as a renin-independent marker of the renin phenotype.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  7. ••Sequeira Lopez MLS, Pentz ES, Nomasa T, Smithies O, Gomez RA. Renin-expressing cells are precursors for multiple cell types capable of switching to the renin phenotype when homeostasis is threatened. Dev Cell. 2004;6(5):719–28. First direct genetic evidence that renin cells are precursors for a variety of renal (smooth-muscle, mesangial cells, JG cells) and extra renal cells and not terminally differentiated as previously thought. Those cells retain the capability to synthesize renin when additional hormone is required to reestablish homeostasis. This study was a breakthrough in our understanding of the relationship between developmental processes, and the plasticity (or molecular memory) of adult cells to reenact a phenotype when under stress.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Pentz ES, Sequeira Lopez MLS, Cordaillat M, Gomez RA. Identity of the renin cell is mediated by cAMP and chromatin remodeling: an in vitro model to study cell recruitment and plasticity. Am J Physiol. 2008;294(2):H699–707.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Castellanos Rivera RM, Pentz ES, Lin E, Gross KW, Medrano S, Yu J, et al. Recombination signal binding protein for Ig-κJ regulates the phenotype of the JG cell by activating its myo-endocrine program and suppressing ectopic gene expression. J Am Soc Nephrol. 2015;26:67–80.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Kurtz L, Sequeira Lopez MLS, Gomez RA, Willecke K, Wagner C, Kurtz A. Reciprocal expression of connexin 40 and 45 during phenotypical changes of renin secreting cells. American J Physiol. 2011;300(3):F743–748.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Virginia School of Medicine, Child Health Research Center, 409 Lane Road, MR4 Building Room 2001, Charlottesville, VA, 22908, USA

    R. Ariel Gomez & Maria Luisa S. Sequeira Lopez

Authors
  1. R. Ariel Gomez
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Maria Luisa S. Sequeira Lopez
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to R. Ariel Gomez.

Ethics declarations

Compliance with Ethical Standards

ᅟ

Conflict of Interest

Drs. Gomez and Sequeira Lopez declare no conflicts of interest relevant to this manuscript.

Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent

This review does not contain any new studies with human or animal subjects. Cited experiments previously performed by the authors have been approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee and according to NIH standards.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Gomez, R.A., Lopez, M.L.S.S. Plasticity of Renin Cells in the Kidney Vasculature. Curr Hypertens Rep 19, 14 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11906-017-0711-8

Download citation

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11906-017-0711-8

Keywords

Search

Navigation