School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
International Human Phenome Institute (Shanghai), Shanghai, China.
J Anat. 2023 Oct;243(4):684-689. doi: 10.1111/joa.13912. Epub 2023 Jun 9.
Recent studies in mouse models have demonstrated that the multi-cellular rosette structure of the adrenal zona glomerulosa (ZG) is crucial for aldosterone production by ZG cells. However, the rosette structure of human ZG has remained unclear. The human adrenal cortex undergoes remodeling during aging, and one surprising change is the occurrence of aldosterone-producing cell clusters (APCCs). It is intriguing to know whether APCCs form a rosette structure like normal ZG cells. In this study, we investigated the rosette structure of ZG in human adrenal with and without APCCs, as well as the structure of APCCs. We found that glomeruli in human adrenal are enclosed by a laminin subunit β1 (lamb1)-rich basement membrane. In slices without APCCs, each glomerulus contains an average of 11 ± 1 cells. In slices with APCCs, each glomerulus in normal ZG contains around 10 ± 1 cells, while each glomerulus in APCCs has significantly more cells (average of 22 ± 1). Similar to what was observed in mice, cells in normal ZG or in APCCs of human adrenal formed rosettes through β-catenin- and F-actin-rich adherens junctions. The cells in APCCs form larger rosettes through enhanced adherens junctions. This study provides, for the first time, a detailed characterization of the rosette structure of human adrenal ZG and shows that APCCs are not an unstructured cluster of ZG cells. This suggests that the multi-cellular rosette structure may also be necessary for aldosterone production in APCCs.
最近在小鼠模型中的研究表明，肾上腺球状带（ZG）的多细胞玫瑰花结构对于 ZG 细胞产生醛固酮至关重要。然而，人 ZG 的玫瑰花结构仍不清楚。人类肾上腺皮质在衰老过程中会发生重塑，一个令人惊讶的变化是出现产生醛固酮的细胞簇（APCCs）。有趣的是，APCCs 是否会形成类似于正常 ZG 细胞的玫瑰花结构。在这项研究中，我们研究了有和没有 APCCs 的人 ZG 的玫瑰花结构以及 APCCs 的结构。我们发现，人肾上腺中的肾小球被富含层粘连蛋白亚基 β1（lamb1）的基底膜包围。在没有 APCCs 的切片中，每个肾小球平均包含 11±1 个细胞。在有 APCCs 的切片中，正常 ZG 的每个肾小球平均包含约 10±1 个细胞，而每个 APCCs 的肾小球含有明显更多的细胞（平均 22±1 个）。与在小鼠中观察到的情况类似，正常 ZG 或人肾上腺 APCCs 中的细胞通过富含β-连环蛋白和 F-肌动蛋白的黏着连接形成玫瑰花。APCCs 中的细胞通过增强的黏着连接形成更大的玫瑰花。这项研究首次详细描述了人肾上腺 ZG 的玫瑰花结构，并表明 APCCs 不是 ZG 细胞的无结构簇。这表明多细胞玫瑰花结构对于 APCCs 中醛固酮的产生也是必要的。
