Department of Medicine, Renal Electrolyte and Hypertension Division, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; email:
Institute of Diabetes Obesity and Metabolism, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Philadelphia, USA.
Annu Rev Physiol. 2022 Feb 10;84:507-531. doi: 10.1146/annurev-physiol-052521-121841. Epub 2021 Nov 29.
The kidney maintains electrolyte, water, and acid-base balance, eliminates foreign and waste compounds, regulates blood pressure, and secretes hormones. There are at least 16 different highly specialized epithelial cell types in the mammalian kidney. The number of specialized endothelial cells, immune cells, and interstitial cell types might even be larger. The concerted interplay between different cell types is critical for kidney function. Traditionally, cells were defined by their function or microscopical morphological appearance. With the advent of new single-cell modalities such as transcriptomics, epigenetics, metabolomics, and proteomics we are entering into a new era of cell type definition. This new technological revolution provides new opportunities to classify cells in the kidney and understand their functions.
肾脏维持电解质、水和酸碱平衡，清除外来和废物化合物，调节血压，并分泌激素。哺乳动物的肾脏中至少有 16 种不同的高度特化的上皮细胞类型。专门的内皮细胞、免疫细胞和间质细胞类型的数量甚至可能更大。不同细胞类型的协同相互作用对肾脏功能至关重要。传统上，细胞是根据其功能或显微镜下的形态特征来定义的。随着转录组学、表观遗传学、代谢组学和蛋白质组学等新的单细胞技术的出现，我们正在进入一个细胞类型定义的新时代。这场新的技术革命为我们在肾脏中对细胞进行分类和了解其功能提供了新的机会。
