Glomerular nonmuscle-type myosin heavy-chain isoform gene expression in glomerulosclerosis

This study was designed to assess how the glomerular expression of the nonmuscle-type myosin heavy-chain isoform, SMemb, is regulated in rats with focal glomerulosclerosis induced by puromycin aminonucleoside. SMemb was barely detectable in control glomeruli. On day 48 of focal glomerulosclerosis, SMemb was expressed in mesangial area and glomerular epithelial cells. When glomerulosclerosis became prominent on day 80, SMemb stained immunohistochemically in a focal segmental pattern in the sclerotic glomeruli. SMemb-expressing cells did not always express alpha-smooth muscle actin. In Northern blot analysis, SMemb mRNA was not detected in control glomeruli, whereas it was transiently upregulated in glomeruli on day 48 in rats with focal glomerulosclerosis. The mRNA levels of SMemb were thereafter gradually downregulated by day 80; however, they remained higher than those of control glomeruli. These data suggest that glomerular embryonic nonmuscle-type myosin heavy chain is abnormally regulated in glomerulosclerosis and that glomerulosclerosis may be associated with dedifferentiation of not only the mesangial cells, but also the other resident glomerular cells.