The research progress of podocytes in crescentic glomerulonephritis

Crescentic glomerulonephritis(GN)clinically manifests as acute glomerulonephritis syndrome,and is a common acute critical disease in the area of kidney diseases.Its pathology is characterized by formation of more than 50% of glomerular crescents in the Bowman's capsule,accounting for over 50% of the glomerular area.At the early stage of disease,cellular crescents are very common.Three types of crescents have been identified as celluar,fibrocellular and fibrous crescents.The etiology and the initial pathogenetic factors are different in the three types.It is believed generally that podocytes are not involved in crescent formation,but clinical and animal studies in the past decade have suggested that podocytes may undergo cell phenotypic transformation after the stimulation of pathological factors of crescentic glomerulonephritis,thereby obtaining migration ability and forming a podocyte bridge.The pathological process of crescent formation is finally initiated.The research progress of podocytes in crescentic glomerulonephritis is reviewed in this article.