BackgroundVarious cell types, including podocytes and parietal epithelial cells (PECs), play important roles in the development and progression of glomerular kidney diseases, albuminuria and glomerulosclerosis. Besides their role in renal pathologies, glomerular cells have emerging new functions in endogenous repair mechanisms. Better understanding of the dynamics of the glomerular environment and cellular composition in the intact living kidney is critically important for the development of new regenerative therapeutic strategies for kidney diseases. However, progress in this field has been hampered by the lack of in vivo research tools.
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