Scanning Electron Microscopy of the Podocyte
This
picture on the right shows a normal podocyte. The foot processes
that encircle the small blood vessels in the kidney glomerulus form a kind
of sieve. This sieve filters the proteins and its correct functioning
is essential for the kidney to do its job properly.
This picture on
the left is the diseased podocyte in nephrotic syndrome. This podocyte has
lost its highly specialised architecture. This means that the podocyte is
not performing its sieve function correctly so the kidney is not doing its
job properly.
We want to find out what makes the cell in the first picture change into
the cell in the second picture. We then want to find out how to reverse
this process.