A simple method for the specific detection of Ren-1 renin

✍ Scribed by Yabuki, Akira; Suzuki, Syusaku; Matsumoto, Mitsuharu; Taniguchi, Kazuyuki; Nishinakagawa, Hayao

• Publisher: Nature Publishing Group
• Year: 2002
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 551 KB
• Volume: 62
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0085-2538
• DOI: 10.1046/j.1523-1755.2002.00688.x

✦ Synopsis

Background:

Ren-1 and ren-2 renin are expressed in the kidneys of all mice and in the submandibular gland of several mouse strains. the present study determined the usefulness of modified periodic acid silver-methenamine (pam) staining for the specific detection of ren-1 renin.

Methods:

Conventional paraffin sections were prepared from kidneys of icr, balb/ca, c57bl/6cr, c3h/hen, dba/2cr, angiotensin ii type 1a receptor gene knockout (at1ako) mice, wistar rats and a human, and submandibular glands of c57bl/6cr and dba/2cr mice. sections were analyzed for the presence of renin using pam and immunohistochemistry. pam reactions were terminated at generally or weakly intense (weak pam staining; w-pam). in addition, kidneys of dba/2cr mice were fixed using various fixatives (formalin, pfa, plp, zamboni's, bouin's, or carnoy's) and treated using identical procedures.

Results:

Although pam-positive reactions were observed in juxtaglomerular (jg) cells, w-pam reactions were particularly specific for these cells. these findings were observed in all mouse strains. immunohistochemistry using mirror sections suggested that a w-pam-positive reaction detected renin. this hypothesis was confirmed by the results from at1ako mice. briefly, w-pam detected an expansion of renin-positive areas in at1ako mice. rat and human kidneys and mouse submandibular glands were negative for w-pam. levels of jg cell detection by w-pam were similar in samples fixed in formalin, pfa, plp, or zamboni's.

Conclusions:

The present findings show that w-pam can identify ren-1 renin, but not ren-2, rat or human renin. the w-pam method is useful for the specific detection of ren-1 renin.