Human podocyte injury in the early course of hypertensive renal injury

Figure 6 Immunoelectron micrographs of nephrin and CD2-associated protein in glomeruli under normotensive and hypertensive conditions. Under normotensive conditions, the foot processes were intact and displayed as interdigitating (A, B, arrows). In contrast, the foot processes showed different degrees of fusion and partial foot process effacement under hypertensive conditions (C, D). Nephrin was distributed on the cytoplasmic face of foot processes in many filtration slits (A, arrows), and CD2-associated protein (CD2AP) had similar distribution characteristics (B, arrows). Under hypertensive conditions, the staining of nephrin and CD2AP was scattered and uneven, and accumulated in some fusion foot processes, but the overall level decreased (C, D, arrows). CD2AP: CD2-associated protein.