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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2020 Jan 1.
Published in final edited form as: Kidney Int. 2018 Nov 6;95(1):62–74. doi: 10.1016/j.kint.2018.08.029

Figure 8. TNC-enriched kidney tissue scaffold (KTS) recruits Wnt ligands.

Figure 8.

(a) Decellularized KTS. (b) Micrograph shows TNC-positive region in the IRI-KTS. Arrow indicates TNC-positive region, whereas arrowhead denotes TNC-negative area. CMJ, corticomedullary junction. (c) Experimental design for testing TNC recruiting Wnt ligands. Sham-KTS or IRI-KTS were placed in medium containing Wnt3a or GFPWnt8a fusion protein, and incubated for various periods of time as indicated. (d) TNC-enriched IRI-KTS recruits Wnt3a from surrounding medium. Sham-KTS or IRI-KTS were incubated in the medium containing recombinant Wnt3a for different time periods as indicated, followed by Western blotting with anti-Wnt3a antibody. (e) TNC is required for IRI-KTS recruiting Wnt ligands. KTS was prepared from different groups as indicated, and incubated in the medium containing GFP-Wnt8a fusion protein, then followed by Western blotting. (f) Diagram shows that TNC, acting as a sponge, recruits and concentrates Wnt ligands from surrounding extracellular mellitus. This creates a unique tissue microenvironment in which Wnt ligands are enriched and presented to the responsive cells.