Micromanagers
There's a population of cells in our kidneys called renin cells which, although they have a big job, are hard to find (being 0.01% of all kidney cells) by conventional tissue analysis methods. They're responsible for regulating blood pressure by secreting the enzyme renin to change fluid volumes and vessel constriction accordingly. Here, although so rare, renin cell development, situation and interactions with other cells and nerves have been revealed without disrupting the architecture of the kidney. Using techniques including tissue clearing and high-res 3D imaging (renin cells shown in green among the mouse kidney structures highlighted in red), renin cells are found to be the organisers of their local nerve/hormone microenvironment
Read the published research article here
Video from work by Manako Yamaguchi and colleagues
Department of Pediatrics Child Health Research Center, University of Virginia School of Medicine, Charlottesville, VA, USA
Video originally published with a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
Published in Journal of Clinical Investigation inSIGHT, July 2026
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