Intravital and Kidney Slice Imaging of Podocyte Membrane Dynamics.

In glomerular disease, podocyte injury results in a dramatic change in cell morphology known as foot process effacement. Remodeling of the actin cytoskeleton through the activity of small GTPases was identified as a key mechanism in effacement, with increased membrane activity and motility in vitro However, whether podocytes are stationary or actively moving cells in vivo remains debated. Using intravital and kidney slice two-photon imaging of the three-dimensional structure of mouse podocytes, we found that uninjured podocytes remained nonmotile and maintained a canopy-shaped structure over time.

TREM2 lipid sensing sustains the microglial response in an Alzheimer's disease model.

Triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells 2 (TREM2) is a microglial surface receptor that triggers intracellular protein tyrosine phosphorylation. Recent genome-wide association studies have shown that a rare R47H mutation of TREM2 correlates with a substantial increase in the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease (AD). To address the basis for this genetic association, we studied TREM2 deficiency in the 5XFAD mouse model of AD.