Morphometric analysis of centrosome position in tissues

Abstract

Planar cell polarity (PCP) is the polarization of cells within the plane of an epithelial cell layer. PCP is important in many tissues in different processes. In the kidney, it is hypothesized to be important in acquiring and maintaining correct tubular diameter. Aberrant PCP has been shown to be involved in polycystic kidney disease. Therefore, research in this field requires a method to study PCP. As PCP and outward-in signaling via the cilia are interconnected, the position of the centrosome, the base of the cilium can be used as a read-out system for PCP. Here, we provide a method in which the position of the centrosome is measured as read-out for PCP. © 2012 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.