Conversion of a rabbit proximal convoluted tubule (PCT) into a cell monolayer: ultrastructural study of cell dedifferentiation and redifferentiation.

The evolution of a primary culture of kidney proximal convoluted tubule (PCT) cells was followed step by step from the plating time of an isolated tubule to the 39th day of culture. During the first 48 h, the structural remodeling of PCT, leading to the formation of a cell monolayer without cell division, is accompanied by intracytoplasmic changes indicating cell dedifferentiation. Numerous autophagic vacuoles are observed inside the cells, and the ultrastructural features characteristic of in situ PCT cells are progressively lost. Despite these drastic modifications, cell polarity, as observed by immunocytochemical detection of the leucine aminopeptidase, remains unaltered. Starting at 48 h, the peripheral cells divide, and the culture proliferates in a centrifugal direction while newly formed cells differentiate. From 6 days onwards, glycogen granules, never encountered in in situ PCT cells, appear in cultured cells and progressively accumulate. At the optimal stage of the culture (12-17 days old), cells somewhat resemble PCT cells, but their apical brush borders remain rudimentary, and basal cytoplasmic interdigitations surrounding densely packed mitochondria are poorly developed. Subsequently, the cells become overloaded with glycogen and lipid inclusions and resemble degenerating cells.