The strongest serological correlate for lupus nephritis is antibody to double-stranded DNA, although the mechanism by which anti-DNA antibodies initiate lupus nephritis is unresolved. Most recent reports indicate that anti-DNA must bind chromatin in the glomerular basement membrane or mesangial matrix to form glomerular deposits. Here we determined whether direct binding of anti-DNA antibody to...

Studies of the pathogenesis of glomerular disease have suggested that polymorphonuclear leucocytes promote glomerular damage. The pattern of events observed in the autologous phase of nephrotoxic serum nephritis in rabbits indicates that the fixation of antibodies to glomerular basement membrane initiates the activation and binding of complement. This results in the chemotaxis of polymorphonucl...

Mice were injected intravenously with beef liver catalase (mol wt 240,000) and very small doses of horseradish peroxidase (mol wt 40,000) and the site of localization of these enzymes in the kidney was studied by ultrastructural cytochemistry. 1 min after injection, catalase was present in glomerular capillary lumina and there was minimal permeation of the basement membrane. After 5-180 min, st...

THE problem of the splitting of the glomerular basement membrane originated with the observations of Jones (I953, I957) on the histogenesis of membranous thickening, made possible by means of a new method of staining (silver-methenamine). In his opinion this thickening was caused by the splitting of the basement membrane due to the deposition of a hyaline substance between the two layers. Jones...

We have isolated a unique, basement membrane proteoglycan from the Engelbreth-Holm-Swarm (EHS) sarcoma. This proteoglycan, estimated to be 0.75 X 10(6) daltons, was found to contain about equal amounts of protein and covalently linked heparan sulfate. Antibody prepared against this proteoglycan reacts with the basement membrane matrix in the tumor and with the basement membranes in skin, kidney...

Anti-glomerular basement membrane disease is characterized by autoimmunity to antigenic sites on type IV collagen of the glomerular basement membrane. The majority of patients present with rapidly progressive glomerulonephritis and alveolar hemorrhage. The occurrence of antiglomerular basement membrane disease and other types of glomerulonephritis, such as membranous nephropathy, IgA nephropath...

The basement membrane plays an important role in maintaining the structural and functional integrity of tissues. Altered basement membrane structure has been associated with severe functional impairment of the testis in several conditions, including vasectomy, autoimmune orchitis, cryptorchidism, and following x-irradiation. We have used efferent duct ligation as a model to examine seminiferous...

With the aid of the electron microscope, the ultrastructural changes associated with bullous keratopathy were studied in corneal specimens from a patient with congenital hereditary corneal dystrophy and from one with congenital glaucoma. Within the subepithelial bullae of both specimens, infoldings of the basal plasma membrane of the basal epithelial cells could be observed to contain basement-...

Several monoclonal antibodies raised against a glycoprotein-enriched fraction of adult muscle membranes of Locusta migratoria selectively stain particles within haemocytes and basement membrane in developing locust embryos. Haemocytes containing immunoreactive particles are found associated with areas where basement membrane is being laid down. The underlying ectoderm does not show immunoreacti...