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Joined 2026-09-21 Message
Incoming links: V. Ruotsalainen
V. Ruotsalainen 2026-11-05
V. Ruotsalainen is the first author of a 1999 study identifying the location of nephrin within the glomerular filtration barrier. The team used antibodies to detect nephrin in kidney tissue. Immunofluorescence placed the signal around the filtering capillaries, while immunogold labeling with electron microscopy located it at the slit diaphragm between neighboring podocyte projections.[ref]
Nephrin is specifically located at the slit diaphragm of glomerular podocytes by V. Ruotsalainen and others. Abstract and immunolocalization results; PNAS 96, 7962–7967, 1999
The different scales matter. A fluorescent band near a filtering surface does not by itself specify which tiny junction contains a protein; electron microscopy resolves the slit diaphragm within that region. Coupled with prior evidence that mutations in the nephrin gene cause severe urinary protein loss, the localization supported a structural role in the filtration apparatus. The proposed zipper-like arrangement of nephrin molecules was an explanatory model, distinct from the directly observed labeling pattern.[ref]
Nephrin is specifically located at the slit diaphragm of glomerular podocytes by V. Ruotsalainen and others. Abstract and Discussion: slit localization, congenital nephrotic syndrome and proposed zipper-like assembly