Human primary epithelial cells of renal pelvis was established to investigate the adherence of uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC) to this cell line, in which the primary cell culture was performed by using cultivation of the normal epithelium of renal pelvis in keratinocyte serum free medium (K-SFM) with epidermal growth factor (EGF) and bovine pituitary extract (BPE). Both UPEC132 obtained from urine specimen of patients with pyelonephritis and the pilus-free representative strain E. coli K-12p678-54 were used to study the adherence of these strains on human primary epithelial cells of renal pelvis. The UPEC adherence was performed with observation on the morphological changes of the adhered cells, while the adhesion rates and indices were calculated in different times of experiment. In addition, the virulence genes hly and cnf1 of UPEC132 were detected by multiplex PCR assay. In this study, the human primary epithelial cells of renal pelvis was found to exhibit the character of the transitional epithelial cells. Compared with the control group, the adhesion rates and indices began to increase from 15 min of the experiment time and reached its peak in 120 min. The adhesion rate and index of UPEC132 to human primary epithelial cells of renal pelvis were 74.4% and 34.0 respectively. Many microscopic changes in the primary cells adhered with UPEC132 could be detected, such as rounding or irregularity in shape, unevenness in staining and the cytoplasmic and nuclear changes. It suggests that human primary epithelial cells of renal pelvis can be used for the experiment on UPEC adhesion, thus providing a basis for the further study on the pathogenesis of UPEC.
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