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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2012 Sep 2.
Published in final edited form as: Am J Physiol Renal Physiol. 2005 Feb 8;288(6):F1153–F1163. doi: 10.1152/ajprenal.00008.2005

Figure 6. Polycystin-1 and desmosomal proteins transiently colocalize when normal kidney cells are at 50% confluence.

Figure 6

Confocal images of normal primary human kidney cells taken at early stage of cell-cell contact. Co-labeling of polycystin-1 (red) and desmosomal components (green) was carried out.

a. Cells processed at 50% confluence show an overlapping pattern (arrows) between polycystin-1 and desmoglein (left panel) or desmoplakin (right panel). Insets show a magnification of membrane region marked with arrows. Bars, 10 μm.

b. Cells were subjected to a calcium switch assay and processed at different time points after the calcium switch. Desmoglein staining (upper two rows) shows clear colocalization with polycystin-1 at 4 h following the calcium switch. This colocalization is lost after 24 h. Plakoglobin labeling (lower two rows) shows colocalization with polycystin-1 at 2 and 4 h after the switch to normal calcium. Bars, 10 μm.