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Podocyte (CL_0000653)

Podocyte is a cell type in renal corpuscle and wraps around the capillary of the glomerulus in the kidney. Renal corpuscle filters the blood, retaining large molecules such as proteins and filtering out smaller molecules such as water, salts, and sugars in the formation of urine. Podocytes are specialized epithelial cells that reside in the visceral layer of the Bowman's capsule.

Podocyte graphic

Above is a graphic of podocyte on the outer surfaces of a section of glomerular capillary. Cell body, primary processes, and pedicles are shown. Neighboring cells with interdigitating pedicles not shown. Copyright: Melissa Clarkson.

Cell Ontology (CL) ID: CL_0000653

    CL definition: A glomerular visceral epithelial cell is a specialized kidney epithelial cell that contains "feet" that interdigitate with the "feet" of other glomerular epithelial cells. [database_cross_reference: GOC:tfm]

    Synonyms: glomerular visceral epithelial cell; epithelial cell of visceral layer of glomerular capsule; glomerular podocyte

Cell Hierarchy (defined by CL):

    Podocyte hierarchy according to the Cell Ontology (CL):

podocyte hierarchy

Above is a graphic (prepared by: Alex Diehl) of CL hierarchy of podocyte and its associated cell types represented in the CL. Later on we will show a cell hierarchy with live links to other cell types.

Location (defined by CL and UBERON):

    Podocyte wraps around the capillary of the glomerulus in the kidney.

'part of' some 'visceral layer of glomerular capsule' (UBERON_0005751)

Connections and Vicinity:

    Podocytes are neighbors of many other cell types such as afferent and efferent arteriole endothelial cells, mesangial cell, etc.

    See more: check the image below, and check the Renal Corpuscle connectome card page.

Cell Differentiation and Lineage:

    Kidney cells arise from OSR1+ mesenchymal progenitor cells in the intermediate mesoderm. As a kidney epithelial cell, podocyte arises from cap mesenchyme progenitor cells and requires activation of SIX2, PAX2 and WT1. Nephrogenic mesenchymal cells initially form mesenchymal condensates, and then transform into epithelial cells during the comma-shaped body stage to the S-shaped body stage. Refs: PMC4163204 and PMC1853414.

    Starting from zygote, the podocyte cell lineage undergoes many steps as shown in the folllowing figure:

podocyte lineage

Above is a graphic (prepared by: Fatima Oudeif and Oliver He) showing of the complete lineage of podocyte starting from zygote. Many molecules and cell differentiation regulation processes are required for the podocyte formation as illustrate in a more detailed podocyte cell lineage figure (prepared by Fatima Oudeif and Andrew Lloyd). Refs: LifeMap, and PMC9338909.

Cell Type Evolution Among Organisms:

     Many invertebrate animals have cells analogous or homologous to podocyte, including:

Key Gene Ontology Terms associated with Podocyte:

    Podocyte-associated GO Cellular Component terms:

    Podocyte-associated GO Biological Process terms:

Cell Biomarkers:

    Podocyte-related biomarkers (Ref: HuBMAP ASCT-B Tables):

    Check more: Podocyte-LM page that includes more literature mined podocyte biomarker information.

Ligands and Receptors expressed in Podocytes:

    As an component of the mammalian kidney filtration apparatus, podocytes process a series of intercellular signals. At the interface of blood and urine, podocyte membranes comprise three distinct signalling platforms: the sole plate (baso-lateral membrane attached to the glomerular basement membrane), slit diaphragm (cell-to-cell junction formed between adjacent podocytes), and apical membrane that extends into the urine space. See Figure 1 in PMC4109315.

    Podocytes express many signal transduction receptors, including receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs), G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs), and nuclear receptors. Podocytes also expresses integrins, which mediate cell matrix adhesion as well as outside-in signalling. Ref: PMC4109315.

    Activation of Toll-like receptor 3 (TLR3) on cultured human podocytes induces CD80 expression and phenotypic change via an NF-?B-dependent mechanism. The results provide a mechanism by which viral infections may cause proteinuria. Ref: PMID: 21617192.

Neighborhood Cell Types of Podocyte:

    The neighborhood cell types of podocyte are described in detail in the Renal Corpuscle Cell Connectome page.

Literature mined Podocyte-related Gene-gene Interactions:

    Please find literature mined results using Ignet:

Gene Expression Profiles:

    Selected podocyte-associated gene expression studies:

Pathways and Functional Maps:

    Podocyte-associated pathways and functional maps:

Images:

    Below are two images showing the podocytes inside the glomerulus:

podocytes in glomerulus

Left: The glomerulus structure that contains podocytes and other cells. Right: peripheral and podocytes highlighted. Copyright: Pinaki Sarder.
Note: The Sarder Lab Slide Analyzer and PodoSighter can be used to support podocyte image study.

Cell Line Cells:

    The following cell lines are available:

Clinical Significance:

    Many "abnormal podocyte cell morphology" (HP_0031265) phenotypes exist:

     Podocyte-related diseases also exist:

References:

Note: This is a manually generated website. Lessons learned will be used for automatic cell card content generation. Feedback is welcome. Thanks!