Diabetic nephropathy (DN) is accompanied by characteristic changes in the glomerulus, but little is known about the effect of diabetes on parietal epithelial cells (PECs). In this study, a descriptive analysis of PECs was undertaken in diabetic db/db mice and in diabetic patients. PEC hypertrophy was significantly more prominent in diabetic mice than in nondiabetic mice, and this was evident even at the early stage. Additionally, the number of vacuoles in PECs was markedly increased in diabetic mice, suggesting the presence of cellular injury in PECs in DN. Although rare, binuclear cells were observed in mice with early diabetes. In cultured PECs, a high glucose condition, compared with normal glucose condition, induced cellular hypertrophy and apoptosis. Flow cytometry showed that some PECs in the G0 phase reentered the cell cycle but got arrested in the S phase. Finally, in human diabetic subjects, hypertrophy and vacuolization were observed in the PECs. Our data showed that PECs undergo substantial changes in DN and may participate in rearrangement for differentiation into podocytes.

糖尿病肾病 (DN) 伴有肾小球的特征性变化，但人们对糖尿病对壁层上皮细胞 (PEC) 的影响知之甚少。在这项研究中，对糖尿病患者db/db进行了 PEC 的描述性分析小鼠和糖尿病患者。PEC 肥大在糖尿病小鼠中比在非糖尿病小鼠中明显更为突出，即使在早期阶段也是如此。此外，糖尿病小鼠 PEC 中的空泡数量显着增加，表明 DN 中 PEC 中存在细胞损伤。虽然罕见，但在患有早期糖尿病的小鼠中观察到了双核细胞。在培养的 PEC 中，与正常葡萄糖条件相比，高葡萄糖条件会诱导细胞肥大和细胞凋亡。流式细胞术显示，部分处于 G0 期的 PEC 重新进入细胞周期，但在 S 期停滞。最后，在人类糖尿病受试者中，在 PEC 中观察到肥大和空泡化。我们的数据显示，PEC 在 DN 中发生重大变化，并可能参与重排以分化为足细胞。