Drummond BE, Wingert RA. Insights into kidney stem cell development and regeneration using zebrafish. World J Stem Cells 2016; 8(2): 22-31 [PMID: 26981168 DOI: 10.4252/wjsc.v8.i2.22]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Rebecca A Wingert, PhD, Department of Biological Sciences, Center for Zebrafish Research, Center for Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine, University of Notre Dame, 100 Galvin Life Sciences, Notre Dame, IN 46556, United States. rwingert@nd.edu
Research Domain of This Article
Developmental Biology
Article-Type of This Article
Review
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Stem Cells. Feb 26, 2016; 8(2): 22-31 Published online Feb 26, 2016. doi: 10.4252/wjsc.v8.i2.22
Insights into kidney stem cell development and regeneration using zebrafish
Bridgette E Drummond, Rebecca A Wingert
Bridgette E Drummond, Rebecca A Wingert, Department of Biological Sciences, Center for Zebrafish Research, Center for Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556, United States
Author contributions: Drummond BE and Wingert RA conceived, drafted and revised the paper.
Supported by National Institutes of Health, No. DP2 OD008470; Private funding was provided from the University of Notre Dame College of Science and Graduate School, as well as a generous donation to support stem cell research provided by the Gallagher Family.
Conflict-of-interest statement: Authors declare no conflict of interest for this article.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Rebecca A Wingert, PhD, Department of Biological Sciences, Center for Zebrafish Research, Center for Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine, University of Notre Dame, 100 Galvin Life Sciences, Notre Dame, IN 46556, United States. rwingert@nd.edu
Telephone: +1-574-6310907 Fax: +1-574-6317413
Received: August 29, 2015 Peer-review started: September 6, 2015 First decision: November 27, 2015 Revised: December 17, 2015 Accepted: January 8, 2016 Article in press: January 11, 2016 Published online: February 26, 2016 Processing time: 178 Days and 9.2 Hours
Abstract
Kidney disease is an escalating global health problem, for which the formulation of therapeutic approaches using stem cells has received increasing research attention. The complexity of kidney anatomy and function, which includes the diversity of renal cell types, poses formidable challenges in the identification of methods to generate replacement structures. Recent work using the zebrafish has revealed their high capacity to regenerate the integral working units of the kidney, known as nephrons, following acute injury. Here, we discuss these findings and explore the ways that zebrafish can be further utilized to gain a deeper molecular appreciation of renal stem cell biology, which may uncover important clues for regenerative medicine.
Core tip: The emergence of regeneration-based options for kidney disease has the potential to reduce the growing worldwide health burden of these heterogenous conditions. Research into the mechanisms of renal regeneration in vertebrates like the zebrafish may provide knowledge about fundamental principles that could be useful for cellular reprogramming or endogenous modulation of kidney cells in humans.
