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Fig. 2 | BMC Developmental Biology

Fig. 2

From: Impairment of Wnt11 function leads to kidney tubular abnormalities and secondary glomerular cystogenesis

Fig. 2

Wnt11 −/− in C57Bl6 mice leads to kidney hypoplasia, abnormal morphology of the papilla and Bellini ducts, and glomerular cysts formation. The kidneys were dissected from 4-5-months-old C57Bl6 Wnt11 −/− and Wnt11 +/+ (WT) mice and sectioned rostro-caudally. a, d The WT kidney has a normal papilla morphology (arrow). b A higher magnification of WT papilla sections. c A high-power illustration of the epithelial cells in the region of the terminal papilla, showing Bellini duct cells with a columnar morphology (arrow). e–g Wnt11deficiency in the C57Bl6 mouse leads to a hypoplastic kidney (compare e with a), with a typical abnormal appearance of the kidney papilla cells (compare e, f with a, b, arrows) and altered morphology of the Bellini duct cells towards a more squamous appearance (compare g with c, arrows). h An example of a very severe hypoplastic kidney in an adult C57Bl6 Wnt11 −/− mouse with large cysts (arrow). i–k A WT kidney also depicting tubular cross-sections (i, circled areas) and glomeruli (i, arrow and j, k, dotted circled area). l–n Typical findings in C57Bl6 Wnt11 −/− kidneys are cortical glomerular cysts in a rudimentary glomerular tuft (l, n, stars), enlarged proximal tubules (l, circled areas) and larger glomeruli (l, arrow). m, n Immunohistochemistry of proximal tubule marker Aquaporin 1 (AQP1) in green and glomerular podocytes cytoskeleton marker acetylated tubulin (AT) in red, nuclei marked with DAPI (blue). Note that the Wnt11 deficiency changes the Bowman capsule and the podocytes. No significant difference was noticed between the Wnt11 −/− glomeruli and control glomeruli prior to cyst development (compare m with j, area circled by the dotted line). Note the intense AT staining in the glomerular rudiments of the Wnt11 −/− kidneys (compare n with k, circled areas). o Relative mRNA levels of GDNF and Ret in Wnt11 −/− and WT kidneys examined by qRT-PCR. The data were normalized to GAPDH expression. p Number of glomeruli per kidney section in Wnt11 −/− and WT kidneys. a–h; i, l Masson Trichrome staining. Bars: a, d, e, h 2 mm; b, f 500 μm; i, l 100 μm; c, g, j, k, m, n 50 μm. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01

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