Glomeruli are highly sophisticated filters and glomerular disease is the leading cause of kidney failure. Morphological change in glomerular podocytes and the underlying basement membrane are frequently observed in disease, irrespective of the underlying molecular etiology. Standard electron microscopy techniques have enabled the identification and classification of glomerular diseases based on...

Basement membranes form an anatomic barrier that contains connective tissue. They are composed of type IV collagen, laminin and proteoglycans. Anti-basement membrane antibodies bind to the non-collagen site of the α3 chain of type IV collagen. A group of renal diseases, pulmonary diseases and perhaps others affecting different organs have long been associated with the presence of antibodies dir...

Basement membranes were separated from rat glomeruli and purified by mild procedures, which led to a highly enriched basement membrane fraction. Here, the production and characterization of five monoclonal antibodies against tubular and glomerular basement membranes are described. These antibodies were analyzed immunohistochemically on frozen sections of rat, bovine, and human kidneys as well a...

Anti-glomerular basement membrane (anti-GBM) disease is a rare small vessel vasculitis that affects the capillary beds of the kidneys and lungs. It is an archetypic autoimmune disease, caused by the development of directly pathogenic autoantibodies targeting a well characterized autoantigen expressed in the basement membranes of these organs, although the inciting events that induce the autoimm...

Basement membrane has attracted less attention than the other components of connective tissue. But, like the other extracellular fibres and matrix materials, it can profoundly influence both the structure and function of advanced life forms. Usually taking the shape of thin, structureless cementing material between epithelial and connective tissue, basement membranes are widely distributed thro...

Glomeruli from streptozotocin-diabetic and age-matched nondiabetic rats were quantitatively isolated by a differential sieving technique. The insoluble glomerular basement membranes were purified following sonic disruption in the presence of proteolytic inhibitors. The yield of glomeruli and of glomerular basement membrane relative to the amount of renal cortex and the body weight of the animal...