Localization of fibronectin within the renal glomerulus and its production by cultured glomerular cells

Abstract

Fibronectin was shown in the kidney glomerulus by the use of the peroxidase-labeled antibody technique. At the ultrastructural level, fibronectin was present in greatest quantities along those cell surfaces that abut the capillary basement membrane, especially along the capillary epithelial cell foot process. Intracellular staining was also seen in the glomerulus, most notably in the mesangial cell. Fibronectin was present extracellularly in large amounts in glomerular cell culture and was also demonstrated on the cell membrane and intracellularly.