Structure and function of glomerular epithelial cells in experimental lupus nephritis

TL;DRAbstract

The slit diaphragms (SD) that cover the slit pores among adjacent foot processes (FP) of the podocytes are crucial constituent of the primary barrier for ultrafiltration of plasma in renal glomeruli. A putative distraction of the SDs, of its main components, nephrin and podocin is involved in the immune mediated glomerulonephritis with proteinuria. We undertook an animal and human study to determine the expression of nephrin and podocin in the various forms of lupus nephritis (LN), a prototype of autoimmune disease with a various histological and clinical picture with proteinuria been a major clinical manifestation. The kidneys were examined by light microscopy (LM), and IgG immunofluorescence in order to determine the LN characteristics. Electron microscopy was also performed. In view of electron microscopy findings, we next assessed the glomerular expression of total nephrin and podocin at the protein level by western blot analysis in normal (n=11), MMLN: mild mesangial hyperplasia (

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