Modeling Podocyte Ontogeny and Podocytopathies with the Zebrafish

Bridgette E Drummond; Wesley S Ercanbrack; Rebecca A Wingert

doi:10.3390/jdb11010009

Modeling Podocyte Ontogeny and Podocytopathies with the Zebrafish

J Dev Biol. 2023 Feb 20;11(1):9. doi: 10.3390/jdb11010009.

Authors

Bridgette E Drummond¹, Wesley S Ercanbrack¹, Rebecca A Wingert¹

Affiliation

¹ Department of Biological Sciences, Center for Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine, Center for Zebrafish Research, Boler-Parseghian Center for Rare and Neglected Diseases, Warren Center for Drug Discovery, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556, USA.

Abstract

Podocytes are exquisitely fashioned kidney cells that serve an essential role in the process of blood filtration. Congenital malformation or damage to podocytes has dire consequences and initiates a cascade of pathological changes leading to renal disease states known as podocytopathies. In addition, animal models have been integral to discovering the molecular pathways that direct the development of podocytes. In this review, we explore how researchers have used the zebrafish to illuminate new insights about the processes of podocyte ontogeny, model podocytopathies, and create opportunities to discover future therapies.

Keywords: brca2; development; nephron; notch; osr1; podocyte; retinoic acid; wnt2ba; zebrafish.

Publication types

Review

Grants and funding

This research was funded by startup funds from the University of Notre Dame College of Science awarded to R.A.W., a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship DGE-1313583 awarded to B.E.D., and Elizabeth and Michael Gallagher for their generous gift to Notre Dame to support stem cell research. The funders had no role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or manuscript preparation.