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. 2008 Nov;19(11):2150–2158. doi: 10.1681/ASN.2008020233

Figure 2.

Figure 2.

Dicer is essential for maintenance of podocyte structure. (A and A′) Mutants at 3 wk show focal hypertrophy and vacuolization of epithelial cells in corticomedullary glomeruli, as well as pseudocrescents. (B, B′, and C′) Electron microscopy (EM) reveals segmental podocyte foot process effacement and vacuolization in affected glomeruli. (D and D′) The pathology is zonal in nature, and even at 5 wk, deep and intermediate glomeruli show changes, whereas superficial glomeruli are normal. (E′, F, and G) At advanced stages, mutants have tubular dilation with luminal protein casts and nuclei (E′), prominent vacuolization of glomerular epithelial cells (F), and FSGS and periglomerular fibrosis (G). (H, H′, and I) EM at 5 wk reveals global podocyte foot process effacement and prominent vacuolization (H′), whereas some glomeruli show collapsing lesions (I). Bar = 50 μm in A, A′, D, and D′; 150 μm in E and E′; 30 μm in F; 1.45 μm in B and B′; 3.13 μm in C and I; and 7.41 μm in H and H′; n ≥ 13 and n ≥ 4 mice for each light microscopy and EM panel, respectively.