I diopathic inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) collectively describes ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn’s disease (CD). UC is characterised by inflammation limited to the colonic mucosa and collagen deposition only in the submucosa, whereas CD is characterised by transmural, granulomatous inflammation and thickening of the bowel wall as a result of thickening of the muscularis layers and transmur...

The pineal organ possesses highly fenestrated capillaries, and is devoid of the so-called blood-brain barrier. The present study indicated that the pineal epithelium of the teleost fish, ayu Plecoglossus altivelis, possesses an unusually thick and convoluted basement membrane (2.2-2.4 microm in width) which is visible even under the light microscope. This pineal basement membrane was observed b...

A parietal yolk sac carcinoma of the mouse that secretes large quantities of basement membrane-like material has been used to study the formation of basement membranes. Suitably characterized fluorescein-labeled antibodies against this material stained basement membranes of epithelial structures and vessels, as well as reticulin. When absorbed with reticulin and vascular basement membranes of t...

Six patients with coexistent antiglomerular basement membrane disease and granular immunoreactants in the glomerular basement membrane and mesangium are discussed. These six patients represent 35% of all patients with antiglomerular basement membrane nephritis examined over 10 years. All patients presented with acute, oliguric renal failure, and rapid deterioration in renal function. In all pat...

Introduction and Objective: Alport’s syndrome (hereditary nephritis with deafness) is a familial uncommon disease that ultra-structural studies are gold standard method of its diagnosis. Materials and Methods:We studied 26 Iranian patients suspicious of Alport’s syndrome by electron microscopy. We examin...

Objective: Alteration in the basement membrane proteins maybe associated with diabetic neuropathy. Fibronectin is one of the most important components of peripheral nerves basement membrane. In this study we investigated the effects of insulin administration on prevention of alteration in fibronectin contents of sciatic nerve in diabetic rats. Materials and Methods: Twenty-four wistar rats wer...

The noncollagenous domain hexamer of collagen IV from bovine glomerular basement membrane was further investigated to determine the types of collagen chain from which subunits M2*b and M3 are derived. M2*b was shown to be a shorter form, containing 9 fewer residues, of M2*a which was previously established as the noncollagenous domain of a third chain, a3, of collagen IV (Saus, J., Wieslander, ...

We describe the clinical and pathologic observation of four patients with Porokeratosis of Mibelli. Allof them were women. They had four different forms of disease: Plaque type, functate form, Linear form and superficial disseminated form. In histologic features we observed a new change in basement membrane of epidermis in two patients. This change composed of Liquefaction degeneration of basal...

The biophysical properties of the basement membrane that surrounds human breast glands are poorly understood, but are thought to be decisive for normal organ function and malignancy. Here, we characterize the breast gland basement membrane with a focus on molecule permeation and mechanical stability, both crucial for organ function. We used well-established and nature-mimicking MCF10A acini as ...

Progress has been made in identifying and characterizing basement membrane macromolecules, including type IV collagen, laminin, a heparan sulfate proteoglycan and bullous pemphigoid antigen. Basement membrane contains a unique collagen, type IV collagen, which is formed of pro alpha 1(IV) (Mr = 185,000) and pro alpha 2(IV) (Mr = 170,000) chains. As opposed to the fibrillar pattern seen with oth...