Myo1e impairment results in actin reorganization, podocyte dysfunction, and proteinuria in zebrafish and cultured podocytes.

Background: Podocytes serve as an important constituent of the glomerular filtration barrier. Recently, we and others identified Myo1e as a key molecular component of the podocyte cytoskeleton.

Results: Myo1e mRNA and protein was expressed in human and mouse kidney sections as determined by Northern blot and reverse transcriptase PCR, and its expression was more evident in podocytes by immunofluorescence.

Deficiency in Crumbs homolog 2 (Crb2) affects gastrulation and results in embryonic lethality in mice.

The Crumbs family of transmembrane proteins has an important role in the differentiation of the apical membrane domain in various cell types, regulating such processes as epithelial cell polarization. The mammalian Crumbs protein family is composed of three members. Here, we inactivated the mouse Crb2 gene with gene-targeting techniques and found that the protein is crucial for early embryonic development with severe abnormalities appearing in Crb2-deficient embryos at late-gastrulation.

Effects of cobalt-60 gamma-radiation on the synthesis of adrenomedullin and endothelin in rat vascular smooth muscle cells.

We studied the effects of cobalt-60 Gamma-radiation on the gene expression and secretion of adrenomedullin (Adm) and endothelin (ET) in cultured rat vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs). Rat VSMCs cultured in Dulbecoo's modified Eagle's medium containing 10% FBS were radiated with cobalt-60 Gamma-radiation at doses of 1, 14, and 25 Gy, respectively. Then the mRNA of Adm and ET in VSMCs were detected by the reverse-transcriptative competitive polymerase chain reaction.