A Fluorescent Antibody Study of Juxtaglomerular Cells Using the Freeze-Substitution Technique

Abstract

A fluorescent antibody method of staining the juxta glomerular cells (JG-cells) of wax-embedded renal tissue, initially prepared by freeze-substitution, was developed. Specimens of antisera to pig renin, specially absorbed by low-renin pig kidney powder stained only the granules of the JG-cells of the pig kidney. These antisera also cross-reacted with the JG-granules of dog and rabbit. When plasma globulins were elevated in the dog, globulin deposits could be stained with conjugated antibodies to canine globulins inside the JG-cells. Because of this finding the JG-cells were judged to be highly permeable to plasma constituents and perhaps angiotensinogen.

Angiotensin II immunoreactivity coexists with renin in the juxtaglomerular granular cells of the kidney.

“…Earlier studies showed the presence of an a2-globulin-to which angiotensinogen belongs-in JEG cells (30).…”