Tubular organization and vascular-tubular relations were studied by double injection in canine kidneys. Blood vessels were injected via the artery after perfusion fixation. Tubules were injected by micropipettes inserted into the urinary spaces of selected glomeruli in cleared slices. One hundred proximal convoluted tubules, 16 Henle loops, and 5 distal convoluted tubules were defined. Only sub...

T he structural integrity of the glomerular capillaries stems from the stereotyped arrangement of the three constituent cell types: Podocytes (also called visceral epithelial cells), endothelial cells, and mesangial cells. The arrangement of these cells depends in part on their interactions with extracellular matrix, most notably the glomerular basement membrane (GBM). In this essay, I discuss ...

In 1938, Owen described a malignant renal neoplasm with a peculiar histological pattern. The peculiarity consisted in the tumour cells forming glomerular structures made up of cuboidal cells with clear cytoplasm, indistinct borders and round hyperchromatic nuclei. The glomerular structures had no vascular tufts but showed, at the periphery, a limiting membrane lined by cuboidal cells in one or ...

Podocytes are highly specialized epithelial cells located at the outer aspects of the glomerular capillary tuft and critical components of the kidney filtration barrier. To maintain their unique features, podocytes express a number of proteins that are only sparsely found elsewhere in the body. In this study, we have identified four (Tmem234, Znf185, Lrrc49, and Slfn5) new highly podocyte-enric...

Projection neurons (PNs) with arborizations in the sexually dimorphic "lateral large female glomerulus" (latLFG) in the antennal lobe (AL) of the moth Manduca sexta previously were shown to respond preferentially to antennal stimulation with (+/-)linalool, a volatile compound commonly emitted by plants. In the present study, using intracellular recording and staining techniques, we examined the...

The intercapillary area of the kidney glomerulus was first described and named «mesangium» by Zimmermann in 1933 1. The advent of electron microscopy enabled Marinozzi in Italy 2 and Latta in the U.S. 3 to conclusively demonstrate that a separate cell type exists in the kidney glomerulus, in addition to epithelial and endothelial cells lining around the basement membrane. The functions of these...

According to the combinatorial receptor and glomerular codes for odors, the fine tuning of the output level from each glomerulus is assumed to be important to the information processing in the olfactory system, which might be regulated by numerous elements such as olfactory nerves (ONs), various interneurons and centrifugal nerves. Recently structural and physiological analyses at the cellular ...