Open Access Mineralocorticoid Receptor, Heat Shock Proteins and Immunophilins Par- ticipate in the Transmission of the Tubulogenic Signal of Aldosterone

Abstract: Aldosterone exhibits a tubulogenic activity on renal stem/progenitor cells. Little information is available about the signaling between the mineralocorticoid receptor (MR) and the proteins in the cytoplasm. To obtain information, renal stem/progenitor cells from neonatal rabbit were cultured at the interface of an artificial polyester interstitium in a perfu-sion container for 13 days. Development was registered with Soybean Agglutinin (SBA). Microscopy revealed that treat-ment with aldosterone (1 x 10-7 M) resulted in numerous SBA-labeled tubules. Interference with mineralocorticoid recep-tor (MR) and heat shock protein (hsp) 90 using geldanamycin (3,6 x 10-6 M) or radicicol (1 x 10-6 M) showed a lack of tu-bule development. Disturbing MR and hsp 70 with quercetin (2 x 1