title: Morphological process of podocyte development revealed by block-face scanning electron microscopy.
abstract: Podocytes present a unique 3D architecture specialized for glomerular filtration. However, several 3D morphological aspects on podocyte development remain partially understood because they are difficult to reveal using conventional scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Here, we adopted serial block-face SEM imaging, a powerful tool for analyzing the 3D cellular ultrastructure, to precisely reveal the morphological process of podocyte development, such as the formation of foot processes. Development of foot processes gives rise to three morphological states: the primitive, immature and mature foot processes. Immature podocytes were columnar in shape and connected to each other by the junctional complex, which migrated toward the basal side of the cell. When the junctional complex was close to the basement membrane, immature podocytes started to interdigitate with primitive foot processes under the level of junctional complex. As primitive foot processes lengthened, the junctional complex moved between primitive foot processes to form immature foot processes. Finally, the junctional complex was gradually replaced by the slit diaphragm, resulting in the maturation of immature foot processes into mature foot processes. In conclusion, the developmental process of podocytes is now clearly visualized by block-face SEM imaging.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy and Life Structure, Juntendo University Graduate School of Medicine, Tokyo 113-8421, Japan ichimura@juntendo.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Koichiro
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-6590-7912
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ichimura
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Morphology and Image Analysis, Center for Biomedical Research Resources, Juntendo University Graduate School of Medicine, Tokyo 113-8421, Japan.
authors.forename: Soichiro
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kakuta
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy and Life Structure, Juntendo University Graduate School of Medicine, Tokyo 113-8421, Japan.
authors.forename: Yuto
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kawasaki
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy and Life Structure, Juntendo University Graduate School of Medicine, Tokyo 113-8421, Japan.
authors.forename: Takayuki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Miyaki
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy and Life Structure, Juntendo University Graduate School of Medicine, Tokyo 113-8421, Japan.
authors.forename: Takahiro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nonami
authors.affiliation: National Institute for Physiological Sciences, Okazaki 444-8585, Japan.
authors.forename: Naoyuki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Miyazaki
authors.affiliation: High Voltage Electron Microscope Laboratory, Nagoya University, Nagoya 464-8603, Japan.
authors.forename: Tomoyo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nakao
authors.affiliation: High Voltage Electron Microscope Laboratory, Nagoya University, Nagoya 464-8603, Japan.
authors.forename: Sakiko
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Enomoto
authors.affiliation: High Voltage Electron Microscope Laboratory, Nagoya University, Nagoya 464-8603, Japan.
authors.forename: Shigeo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Arai
authors.affiliation: Department of Cell Biology and Neuroscience, Juntendo University Graduate School of Medicine, Tokyo 113-8421, Japan.
authors.forename: Masato
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Koike
authors.affiliation: National Institute for Physiological Sciences, Okazaki 444-8585, Japan.
authors.forename: Kazuyoshi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Murata
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy and Life Structure, Juntendo University Graduate School of Medicine, Tokyo 113-8421, Japan.
authors.forename: Tatsuo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sakai
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D048430:Cell Shape; D007678:Kidney Glomerulus / Q000098:blood supply / Q000166:cytology / Q000648:ultrastructure; D008297:Male; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning / Q000379:methods*; D050199:Podocytes / Q000166:cytology* / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D017208:Rats, Wistar
keywords: Block-face imaging; Glomerulogenesis; Glomerulus; Podocyte