Rearrangements of the cytoskeleton and cell contacts induce process formation during differentiation of conditionally immortalized mouse podocyte cell lines.

Mature podocytes are among the most complex differentiated cells and possess a highly branched array of foot processes that are essential to glomerular filtration in the kidney. Such differentiated podocytes are unable to replicate and culturing of primary podocytes results in rapid growth arrest. Therefore, conditionally immortalized mouse podocyte clones (MPC) were established, which are highly proliferative when cultured under permissive conditions. Nonpermissive conditions render the majority of MPC cells growth arrested within 6 days and induce many characteristics of differentiated podocytes. Both proliferating and differentiating MPC cells express the WT-1 protein and an ordered array of actin fibers and microtubules extends into the forming cellular processes during differentiation, reminiscent of podocyte processes in vivo. These cytoskeletal rearrangements and process formation are accompanied by the onset of synaptopodin synthesis, an actin-associated protein marking specifically differentiated podocytes. In addition, focal contacts are rearranged into an ordered pattern in differentiating MPC cells. Most importantly, electrophysiological studies demonstrate that differentiated MPC cells respond to the vasoactive peptide bradykinin by changes in intracellular calcium concentration. These results suggest a regulatory role of podocytes in glomerular filtration. Taken together, these studies establish that conditionally immortalized MPC cells retain a differentiation potential similar to podocytes in vivo. Therefore, the determinative steps of podocyte differentiation and process formation are studied for the first time using an inducible in vitro model.

AltFGF-2, a novel ER-associated FGF-2 protein isoform: its embryonic distribution and functional analysis during neural tube development.

A novel fibroblast growth factor-2 (FGF-2) protein isoform, called altFGF-2, is expressed abundantly during chicken embryogenesis. The amino-terminal domain of the 21.5-kDa altFGF-2 protein diverges completely from the other three FGF-2 proteins due to alternative splicing of their first coding exons. Furthermore, the altFGF-2 protein, in contrast to FGF-2 proteins, is targeted predominantly to the endoplasmic reticulum. In chicken embryos, altFGF-2 and FGF-2 proteins are differentially distributed in several mesodermal structures including developing limbs and kidneys. All four FGF-2 protein isoforms are also expressed in the developing neural tube from early neural plate stages onward. In contrast to FGF-2 proteins, the altFGF-2 isoform is distributed in a dynamic, spatially restricted pattern in notochord and ventral neural tube (floor plate and motor neurons) during specification of neuronal populations. To study the possible shared or differential signaling functions of chicken altFGF-2 and FGF-2 gene products, they were ectopically expressed in the dorsal neural tube aspect of transgenic mouse embryos. Dorsal expression of altFGF-2, but not FGF-2 gene products, induced alteration of neural tube morphology in a significant fraction of mouse embryos (25%). However, no alterations of dorsoventral (d/v) neural tube polarity were detected, indicating that altFGF-2 and FGF-2 gene products either function as permissive cofactors or regulate neural tube growth without affecting establishment of its primary d/v polarity.

Expression of alternatively spliced bFGF first coding exons and antisense mRNAs during chicken embryogenesis.

We have identified eight different basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF or FGF-2) transcripts which can be grouped into three classes expressed during chicken embryogenesis and in specific adult organs. Three of them encode the evolutionarily conserved bFGF proteins. Two additional mRNAs are structurally homologous to the previously isolated Xenopus laevis bFGF antisense transcripts. Their expression during embryogenesis and the inversely proportional amounts of sense and antisense transcripts in several adult organs provide further evidence for a possible regulatory role of the antisense transcripts. Unexpectedly, a novel class of three alternatively spliced bFGF transcripts expressed predominantly during embryogenesis was isolated. Alternative splicing of exon 1 of the open reading frame creates a predicted bFGF isoform containing a completely novel amino-terminal domain. This is the first report describing alternative splicing of the coding region of bFGF. Similar levels of alternatively spliced (alt-bFGF) and canonical bFGF transcripts are expressed during embryogenesis, but in adult organs alt-bFGF transcripts are far less abundant, which suggests roles for the predicted novel bFGF isoform during morphogenesis.