Fig. 5

Transmission electron microscopy showing glycocalyx in capillaries under septic conditions. a Ultrastructure of cardiac capillaries under septic conditions. a1 Continuous capillary without lanthanum nitrate staining. The capillary wall appears edematous, and there is fibrin deposited inside the capillary lumen. a2, a3 Lanthanum nitrate staining to visualize the endothelial glycocalyx. a3 Expanded view of the area within the red rectangle in (a2). The endothelial glycocalyx is peeled away, and there is little glycocalyx on the endothelial cells (red arrow). b Ultrastructure of glomerular capillaries under septic conditions. b1 Glomerular capillary without lanthanum nitrate staining. There is a gap between the podocytes and basement membrane under septic conditions (red arrows). b2, b3 Lanthanum nitrate staining to visualize the glycocalyx. b3 Expanded view of the area within the red rectangle in (b2). The glycocalyx is cast off from the surface of the glomerular endothelial cells and podocytes. c Ultrastructure of hepatic sinusoids under septic conditions. c1 Sinusoid without lanthanum nitrate staining. Whereas the sinusoid is normally composed of discontinuous flat endothelial cells, here the endothelial cells have become edematous, and the large pores are closed (red arrow). c2, c3 Visualized glycocalyx in sinusoids. c3 Expanded view of the area within the red rectangle in (c2). The endothelial glycocalyx layer of sinusoids has peeled off, and the space of Disse has become unclear