Freeze-fracture cytochemistry of rat glomerular capillary tuft. Determination of wheat germ agglutinin binding sites and localization of anionic charges.

We propose here the use of freeze-fracture to gain access and to label in vitro glomerular components and locate WGA receptors and anionic sites. Tissues are frozen, fractured under liquid nitrogen, and thawed. Freeze-fracture rendered all glomerular structures directly accessible to the reagents. This made possible study of the nature and topology of cationized ferritin and WGA binding sites. WGA-gold complexes were observed over plasma membranes of podocytes and of endothelial and mesangial cells. Labeling of podocytes and endothelial cells was similar in the mesangial area and in the peripheral part of the capillary loop. Cross-fractures of extracellular matrices showed that WGA bound uniformly to the glomerular basement membrane (GBM) as well as to mesangial matrix. In fractured specimens treated with neuraminidase, WGA was no longer observed over podocytes but it consistently labeled the surface of endothelial and mesangial cells. Whereas in GBM cross-sections WGA binding was greatly reduced or even abolished, it remained unmodified in the mesangium. This shows that only NeuNAc (sialic acid) might account for the binding of WGA to podocytes, whereas GlcNAcs appear to be the main WGA binding sites on endothelial and mesangial cells and in the mesangial matrix. Both NeuNAc and GLcNAc residues are probably associated in GBM. With cationized ferritin (pI 8.3) at pH 7.4, intense, continuous labeling was seen all over the different plasma membranes, denser in podocytes than in endothelial cells. CF was also observed in cross-fractured profiles of extracellular matrices and never appeared agglutinated in discrete sites.