Renal Hyaline Arteriolosclerosis. an Electron Microscope Study.

It is the purpose of the present paper to report electron microscopic observations on the hyalinizing form of renal arteriolosclerosis, and particularly on the localization of hyaline deposits and their relationships to normal structural components of the arteriolar wall. The problem of the nature, origin and pathogenetic significance of arteriolar hyalin in the kidney and other organs in various diseases, as well as in aging, has been extensively reviewed in a recent publication.1 In the present work attention is focused on the morphologic features of renal arteriolar hyalinosis in nondiabetic hypertensive patients. However, since lesser degrees of arteriolar hyalinosis occasionally observed in normotensive nondiabetic elderly patients present essentially similar features, the material available from these patients is included here. The findings indicate that arteriolar hyalin may constitute a deposit of substances of hematogenous origin and that it is distinct from collagen, elastic tissue, basement membrane material, fibrin and amyloid.