Identification of multinucleated cells in human kidney cortex: A way for tissue repairing?

Abstract

The presence of multinucleated cells has never been demonstrated in renal tissue, although, polyploid cells were recently observed in the tubules of normal and pathological human kidney. Therefore, the aim of the present study is to identify and quantify, by electron microscopy, multinucleated cells in the cortical tissue of normal human kidney i.e., in the three compartments of renal tubule: the proximal tubule (PT), the distal tubule (DT), and the collecting duct (CD), as well as, in the glomerulus (podocytes). The percentage of the multinucleated cells observed was 5% (95%CI: 3.6%–6.7%) in renal cortical tubules with distribution in each tubular compartment of 6% in PT, 4% in DT and 3% in CD with no statistically significant difference in the distribution of multinucleated cells according to tubular compartments. Four percent of analysed podocytes (in total 149 podocytes) were multinucleated (95%CI: 1.5%−8.6%). In conclusion, multinucleated cells were identified and quantified in functionally normal kidneys, as previously demonstrated in other organs such as the liver.

Implications of Polyploidy and Ploidy Alterations in Hepatocytes in Liver Injuries and Cancers

“…Cytokinesis failure is the primary mechanism underlying physiological polyploidization in hepatocytes and cardiomyocytes [ 23 ]. Podocytes in the kidney are also unable to complete cytokinesis [ 4 ], and multinucleated cells are physiologically observed in the kidney [ 24 ]. Under diseased conditions, hepatocytes can become polyploid in other ways, including mitotic slippage and cell fusion, which will be discussed later.…”

Origins of cancer: ain’t it just mature cells misbehaving?

“…Generation of polyploidy and multinucleation has been described across multiple species, especially those with long-lived differentiated cells, including hepatocytes, acinar cells in the pancreas and the salivary gland, trophoblast giant cells in the placenta, gastric chief cells, breast alveolar cells during lactation, and multiple cell types in the kidney cortex, such as podocytes and tubular epithelial cells (Fig. 1A , lower, center) (Chen, Ouseph et al, 2012 ; De Chiara, Conte et al, 2022 ; Fantone, Tossetta et al, 2022 ; Fox et al, 2020 ; Ge and Morgan, 1990 ; Kriesten, 1984 ; Lazzeri, Angelotti et al, 2018 ; Liapis, Romagnani et al, 2013 ; Matondo, Moreno et al, 2018 ; Nagata, Nakayama et al, 1998 ; Rios, Fu et al, 2016 ; Unhavaithaya and Orr-Weaver, 2012 ; Vidal, 1984 ; Wollny, Zhao et al, 2016 ; Zanet, Freije et al, 2010 ). On the contrary, multinucleation has, to our knowledge, not been reported in somatic stem cells (Donne, Saroul-Aïnama et al, 2020 ; Øvrebø and Edgar, 2018 ).…”