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Mesangial cell
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The intraglomerular mesangial cell lives inside the glomerulus, the tuft of capillaries where the kidney filters blood. Its first job is support: it physically holds those capillaries in place and fills the gaps left beneath the basement membrane, the sheet they rest on. It is the internal scaffold of the glomerular tuft of capillaries.
That scaffold is needed for a specific reason. Unlike other capillaries in the body, the ones in the glomerulus are not wrapped in interstitial tissue, the supporting filler that normally surrounds blood vessels. The mesangial cell, together with the matrix it secretes around itself, forms what is called the mesangium.
But it does not only provide support. It also contracts, and in doing so it changes the caliber of the capillaries, which finely tunes how much blood is filtered. And it phagocytoses, that is, it engulfs and clears away the protein aggregates that get stuck in the filter.
In brief
The intraglomerular mesangial cell physically supports the capillaries of the glomerulus and fills the spaces left beneath the basement membrane.
It is the internal scaffold of the glomerular tuft of capillaries.
That support is needed because glomerular capillaries are not surrounded by interstitial tissue; the cell and the matrix it secretes make up the mesangium.
It also contracts and phagocytoses: changing capillary diameter tunes filtration, and it clears protein aggregates that get stuck in the filter.
Sources (1)
- National Center for Biotechnology Information, StatPearls PublishingHistology, Kidney and Glomerulus, StatPearlsPublished
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