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Paving the Kidneys
29 April 2015

Paving the Kidneys

Our kidneys are made up of thousands of tiny tubes through which liquid flows as it's processed to make urine. Each of these tubes is made up of a thin pavement of cells 'glued' together by a network of special joints, known as cell junctions. In turn, these junctions are connected to the molecular 'scaffolding' inside cells. The picture on the left shows a layer of healthy kidney cells, neatly aligned like paving slabs, with the junctions highlighted in pink and the internal scaffold in green. On the right the kidney cells are missing a molecule called CAP350, which normally sticks to the scaffolding, helping to organise the structure of cells and enabling them to form proper junctions. Faulty cells are unusually large and don't form into neat sheets, meaning that the resulting tubes in the kidneys will be leaky and the organs won't work properly.

Written by Kat Arney

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BPoD stands for Biomedical Picture of the Day. Managed by the MRC Laboratory of Medical Sciences until Jul 2023, it is now run independently by a dedicated team of scientists and writers. The website aims to engage everyone, young and old, in the wonders of biology, and its influence on medicine. The ever-growing archive of more than 4000 research images documents over a decade of progress. Explore the collection and see what you discover. Images are kindly provided for inclusion on this website through the generosity of scientists across the globe.

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