Loss of a critical number of podocytes from the glomerular tuft leads to glomerulosclerosis.
Even in health, some podocytes are lost into the urine. Because podocytes themselves
cannot regenerate, we postulated that glomerular parietal epithelial cells (PECs), which
proliferate throughout life and adjoin podocytes, may migrate to the glomerular tuft and
differentiate into podocytes. Here, we describe transitional cells at the glomerular vascular
stalk that exhibit features of both PECs and podocytes. Metabolic labeling in juvenile rats …