An Animal Model Using Metallic Ions to Produce Autoimmune Nephritis

Figure 7

Double fluorescence assay showing apoptotic membranes of glomerular cells with annexin stained in green (a, d, and g) and intracellular autoantigens stained by Texas red (b, e, and h). The overlap merge is shown on the right (c, f, and i). In the upper panel (a, b, and c), a control without metallic ions is shown, characterized by the absence of annexin and the faint presence of intracellular Ro protein. The sample in the middle panel (d, e, and f) was collected from an animal treated with CuSO₄ and shows in the overlap fine linear traces in green of apoptotic membranes of podocytes (arrow and the square magnification) close to the translocated Ro autoantigens. The inferior panel corresponds to an experimental animal treated with AgNO₃. Interestingly, annexin staining is broadly distributed along the membranes of the Bowman capsule and mesangial area coincident with the Sm ribonucleoprotein.

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