A new method for the isolation of ultrastructurally preserved glomeruli.
A method is described for the isolation of kidney glomeruli using centrifugation in a discontinuous Ficoll gradient. The method, applied to rats, rabbits, pigs and man, yields a glomerular fraction of high purity with a tubular contamination of normally less than 2%. From observations by light microscopy on epoxy resin-embedded fractions, one-third to one-fourth of the glomeruli had suffered only slight damage during isolation. In the electron microscope these best preserved glomeruli showed a close morphologic similarity to those of the intact tissue and preliminary experiments have indicated that they are well-suited for further studies of the in vitro behavior of isolated, viable glomeruli.
D000818:Animals; D001485:Basement Membrane / Q000648:ultrastructure; D002499:Centrifugation, Density Gradient; D005591:Chemical Fractionation; D046508:Culture Techniques; D004727:Endothelium / Q000648:ultrastructure; D004847:Epithelial Cells; D004848:Epithelium / Q000648:ultrastructure; D006652:Histological Techniques; D007672:Kidney Cortex / Q000648:ultrastructure; D007678:Kidney Glomerulus / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D011817:Rabbits; D051381:Rats; D013552:Swine; D014022:Tissue Survival