FIGURE 4.

A high-resolution image of calcitonin gene related peptide (CGRP)+ bundles approaching multiple glomeruli. (A–H) Maximum z-projections of 25 optical sections, collected 0.65 μm apart, total subvolumes of 16.25 μm each illustrating common interlobular arteries (ia, outlined in blue) branching into subsequent afferent arterioles (aa, outlined in yellow) before supplying glomeruli (a–g, green, nephrin+). CGRP+ bundles (purple) follow the branching of the common interlobular arteries and extend to glomeruli a–g as a module. It appears that glomerulus f originates from another interlobular artery, which may share a common origin with the interlobular artery giving rise to glomeruli a–e and g. (I) 3-Dimensional representation of connectivity of glomeruli by CGRP+ bundles. Color-coded by depth within the image (warm tones: deep in image, cool tones: shallow in image), nephrin-labeled glomeruli (globular structures) appear “connected” via CGRP-labeled axons, which largely travel along shared interlobular arteries en route to glomeruli. (J,K) Maximum intensity projections of z-stacks splitting the depth of the image into two sub-volumes [(J) 148 μm, (K) 127 μm]. Glomeruli represented as warm tones in panel (I) (a–c) are captured within the first 229 optical sections of the image, and glomeruli represented as cool tones in panel (I) (d–g) are present in optical sections numbering 229–424. Scale bars: (A–H,J,K), 100 μm.