HUMAN GLOMERULAR BASEMENT MEMBRANE: CHEMICAL COMPOSITION IN GLOMERULONEPHRITIS AND PYELONEPRITIS

Abstract

Abstract. The chemical composition of glomerular basement membrane (GBM), isolated from 18 kidneys in advanced stage of renal disease, has been studied. On the basis of morphological changes and clinical observations 7 kidneys from 7 patients were classified as showing chronic pyelonephritis, including interstitial nephritis, 5 as chronic membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis, 2 as idiopathic membranous glomerulonephritis, and 4 as chronic glomerulonephritis of unspecified type. Ten normal kidneys were included as controls. For several constituents obvious differences were found between GBM isolated from diseased and normal kidneys, most pronounced for the chronic membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis and idiopathic membranous glomerulonephritis groups. The differences could not be explained solely by contamination of the diseased kidney GBM with collagen. More than one simultaneous process may have contributed to the observed changes in the biochemical composition of diseased GBM.