Summary
The width of individual glomerular epithelial foot processes appears very different on electron micrographs.
A method for obtaining distributions of the true width of foot processes from that of their apparent width on electron micrographs has been developed based on geometric probability theory pertaining to a specific geometric model. Analyses of foot process width in humans and rats show a remarkable interindividual invariance implying rigid control and therefore great biological significance of foot process width or a derivative thereof.
The very low inter-individual variation of the true width, shown in the present paper, makes it possible to demonstrate slight changes in rather small groups of patients or experimental animals.
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In part presented at the International Symposium on Correlation of Renal Ultrastructure and Function, August 1978, Aarhus, Denmark
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Gundersen, H.J.G., Seefeldt, T. & Østerby, R. Glomerular epithelial foot processes in normal man and rats. Cell Tissue Res. 205, 147–155 (1980). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00234450
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00234450