Distribution of actin bundles in Bowman's capsule of rat kidney

In this study we define the distribution of actin bundle arrangement in Bow man's capsule of rat renal corpuscles. Parietal cells of Bowman's capsule w ere examined by conventional light microscopy, electron microscopy and conf ocal microscopy, Within each parietal cell individual actin bundles are arr anged in a parallel fashion running the length of the cell. Computer recons tructions obtained using confocal microscopy clearly show the lengths of ac tin bundles to be arranged, on a capsule level, end-to-end, at angles and p erpendicular to bundles in adjacent cells. The bundles stain positively for non-muscle myosin and vinculin. The presence and arrangement of actin bund les in parietal cells is consistent with a role in reinforcing capsule stru cture, (C) 1999 Harcourt Publishers Ltd.