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Abstract: SA-OR14

A Mouse Glomerular Nanoscale Spatial Atlas

Session Information

Category: Bioengineering

  • 400 Bioengineering

Authors

  • Ali, Adilijiang, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, United States
  • Liu, Zixuan, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, United States
  • Ye, Kenan, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, United States
  • Liu, Tingxuan, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, United States
  • Poudel, Chetan, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, United States
  • Wong, Madeline K., University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, United States
  • Vaughan, Joshua C., University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, United States

Group or Team Name

  • Vaughan Group.
Background

Glomeruli are anatomically complex structures essential to kidney function. Much of our current understanding of glomeruli comes from optical microscopy, for general physiology and molecular distributions, and electron microscopy, for ultrastructure. While powerful, these methods yield uncorrelated results obtained on different pieces of tissue and typically for thin sections at random angles. Researchers therefore generally study small regions of glomeruli, rather than viewing them as distinct, functioning units. We are creating a Glomerular Nanoscale Spatial Atlas (GNSA) that will provide a detailed, annotated collection of high-resolution 3D reconstructions of whole mouse glomeruli. Our goals are to identify previously unknown glomerular phenotypes and to create a rich, downloadable resource.

Methods

We used optical super-resolution microscopy methods at 50-100nm resolution together with advanced tissue labeling techniques and a mix of manual and deep-learning-based data analysis techniques to image and segment major structures in whole mouse glomeruli.

Results

We have reconstructed and analyzed 7 glomeruli (3F, 4M) from healthy adult mice (3-6mo), whose models reveal Bowman’s capsule, Bowman’s space, blood space, all cell types and locations, glomerular basement membrane and mesangial matrix.

Conclusion

We have established a pipeline for creating detailed 3D models of whole renal glomeruli. We are performing a detailed spatial analysis of the models and acquiring new results for aged and model diseased mice with a focus on identifying spatial correlations between components of glomeruli. Once published, the unique data sets of the GNSA may be mined for diverse purposes by the nephrology community.

Funding

  • NIDDK Support