= V. Ruotsalainen
{c}
<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.<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]{ref}
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.<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]{ref}
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