Skip to main content
. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2009 Nov 1.
Published in final edited form as: Semin Nephrol. 2008 Nov;28(6):595–607. doi: 10.1016/j.semnephrol.2008.08.010

Figure 1. Histologic appearance of virally-infected kidney cells. [COLOR].

Figure 1

Polyoma infection: Renal allograft biopsy showing tubulointerstitial damage. Some tubular epithelial cells exhibit finely granular and markedly enlarged nuclei with a ground glass appearance (arrowhead) which is typically seen in polyoma virus nephropathy. A mononuclear cell infiltrate is present (periodic acid–Schiff stain magnification 200x). Immunohistochemical staining for SV40 T antigen demonstrates numerous nuclei of tubular epithelial cells in 1 tubular profile with reaction product (immunoperoxidase; magnification 200x) (Reprinted with permission (30))

Cytomegalovirus infection: Kidney tissue showing characteristic large cells with basophilic intranuclear inclusions which has the appearance of an “owl’s eye”. There are also prominent red cytoplasmic inclusions. (Hematoxylin-eosin stain; magnification 600x).

Adenovirus infection: Kidney tissue from an immunosuppressed patient shows necrosis of tubular epithelial cells. Infected tubular cells have enlarged basophilic nuclei with smudged appearance which is characteristic of adenovirus (Hematoxylin-eosin stain).