Cell characteristics of cultured glomeruli from different animal species.

A modified sieving technique has been developed to isolate pure glomeruli from monkey, sheep, dog, rabbit and rat kidney. Glomeruli from all these species have been grown in tissue culture and the glomerular cell outgrowth studied by light microscopy and time-lapse cinemicroscopy. The pattern of growth was the same for all the species studied. In all species, three cell populations have been identified with the features of epithelial cells, mesangial cells and macrophages, although the latter population is only rarely observed. The morphology and culture characteristics of each cell type in all species were similar, including the relative numbers present and rates of division.