School of Medical Sciences (Discipline of Anatomy and Histology) - The Bosch Institute, The University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia.
Pathol Res Pract. 2013 Nov;209(11):731-4. doi: 10.1016/j.prp.2013.06.013. Epub 2013 Jul 8.
Structural alteration to the microanatomical organization of the glomerular filtration barrier results in proteinuria. Conventional transmission electron microscopy is an important diagnostic tool to assess the degree of ultrastructural damage of the corpusclar filtration unit. However, this approach lacks the ability to collect accurate stereological insights in a relative large tissue volume. Transmission electron tomography offers the ability to gather three-dimensional information with relative ease. Therefore, this contribution aims to highlight what electron tomography can bring to the pathologist in this challenging area of diagnostic practice. Kidney tissue was prepared for routine ultrastructural transmission electron microscopy investigation. Three-dimensional data stacks were automatically acquired by tilting semi-thin sections of 270 nm in an angular range of typically -60° to +60° with 1° increment. Subsequently, models of the filtration unit were produced by computer-assisted tracking of structures of interest. This short report illustrates the capability that transmission electron tomography can offer in the fine structure-function assessment of the porous fenestrated glomerular capillary endothelium, the underlying basement membrane and the podocyte filtration slits. Furthermore, this approach allows the generation of morphometric data about size, shape and volume alterations of the kidney's filtration barrier at the nanoscale.
肾小球滤过屏障的微观解剖结构发生改变会导致蛋白尿。传统的透射电子显微镜是评估肾小球单位超微结构损伤程度的重要诊断工具。然而，这种方法缺乏在相对较大的组织体积中收集准确的立体学见解的能力。透射电子断层摄影术具有相对容易获取三维信息的能力。因此，本研究旨在强调电子断层摄影术在这一具有挑战性的诊断实践领域能为病理学家带来什么。对肾脏组织进行了常规超微结构透射电子显微镜研究的准备。通过以通常为-60°至+60°的角度以 1°的增量倾斜 270nm 的半薄切片，自动采集三维数据堆栈。随后，通过计算机辅助对感兴趣的结构进行跟踪，生成了滤过单位的模型。本简短报告说明了透射电子断层摄影术在多孔有窗毛细血管内皮、基底膜和足细胞滤过裂隙的精细结构-功能评估中的能力。此外，该方法还允许在纳米尺度上生成有关肾脏滤过屏障的大小、形状和体积改变的形态计量数据。
