Abstract
Characteristic helical filaments were frequently found within dilated intracristal spaces of the mitochondria in epithelial cells of renal medullary tubules of normal rats of both sexes. These filaments had a helical structure with right-handed rotation. The approximate dimensions were 4 nm in thickness, 13 nm in helical diameter, and 16 nm in pitch. The filaments were common in all strains of rats examined in the present study but not in animals of other species including mice, guinea pigs, golden hamsters, Mongolian gerbils, house musk shrews, and rabbits. In Sprague-Dawley strain rats, the filaments were found not only in animals of all ages but also in 6-week-old germ-free animals and fetuses at the 18th day of gestation. Even in the same rats, the helical filaments were completely absent in the cortical tubules.
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