Figure 2.

Epithelial differentiation of renal tissue-derived CD133+ cells. a and b: Representative cytofluorimetric analysis of CD133+ cells cultured in epithelial differentiating medium. After10 days of culture, cells lost CD133 expression (a), but maintained the expression of CD44 (b). c to i: Representative immunofluorescence micrographs of cytokeratin (c), vimentin (d), E-cadherin (e), ZO-1 (f), alkaline phosphatase (g), and α-smooth muscle actin (h) expression by epithelial differentiated cells. e: Negative control. j to l: Representative micrographs of immunogold detection by scanning electron microscopy and of immunofluorescence (j, inset) of aminopeptidase A (j) and of NaCl co-transporter (k). l: Negative control. Eight cell preparations and 10 clones were studied by immunofluorescence and 2 clones by immunogold scanning electron microscopy with similar results. Original magnifications: ×400 (c-i, insets in j and k); ×1200 (j–l).