Proteinuria in passive Heymann nephritis is associated with lipid peroxidation and formation of adducts on type IV collagen.

Passive Heymann nephritis (PHN) is a model of human membranous nephropathy that is characterized by formation of granular subepithelial immune deposits in the glomerular capillary wall which results in complement activation. This is causally related to damage of the filtration barrier and subsequent proteinuria. The local accumulation of injurious reactive oxygen species (ROS) is a major effector mechanism in PHN. ROS may induce tissue damage by initiating lipid peroxidation (LPO). In turn, this leads to adduct formation between breakdown products of LPO with structural proteins, such as formation of malondialdehyde (MDA) or 4-hydroxynonenal-lysine adducts. To examine the role of LPO in the development of proteinuria we have localized MDA and 4-hydroxynonenal-lysine adducts in glomeruli of PHN rats by immunofluorescence microscopy, using specific monoclonal antibodies. By immunogold electron microscopy, MDA adducts were localized to cytoplasmic vesicles and cell membranes of glomerular epithelial cells, to the glomerular basement membrane (GBM), and also to immune deposits. Type IV collagen was specifically identified as being modified by MDA adducts, using a variety of techniques. Collagenase pretreatment of GBM extracts indicated that the NC-1 domain of type IV collagen was a site of adduct formation. When LPO was inhibited by pretreatment of PHN rats with the antioxidant probucol, proteinuria was reduced by approximately 85%, and glomerular immunostaining for dialdehyde adducts was markedly reduced, even though the formation of immune deposits was not affected. By contrast, lowering of the serum cholesterol levels had no influence on the development of proteinuria. These findings are consistent with the premise that ROS-induced glomerular injury in PHN involves LPO and that this results not only in damage of cell membranes but in modification of type IV collagen in the GBM as well. The close temporal correlation of the occurrence of LPO with proteinuria and the ability of probucol to inhibit proteinuria support a causal role for LPO in the the alteration of the glomerular permselectivity which results in proteinuria.

Ultrastructure of paracriny/steroidogenesis in principal cells of the marmoset epididymis.

The ultrastructural features of the principal cell in the epididymal epithelium of the marmosets are distinguished by an intercellular exchange of substances contained within cytoplasmic vesicles and the presence of paracrystalline bodies. The possibility of the exchange of substances constituting paracriny and the paracrystalline inclusion having a role in steroidogenic activity is discussed.

Transcellular transport and membrane insertion of the C5b-9 membrane attack complex of complement by glomerular epithelial cells in experimental membranous nephropathy.

Deposition of the C5b-9 complex of C in glomeruli of rats with experimental membranous nephropathy (MN) is essential for the development of proteinuria. In this investigation C5b-9 was localized in the passive Heymann nephritis (PHN) by immunoelectron microscopy with a mAb specific for C5b-9(m) neoantigen. Its distribution was compared with that in another model of MN induced by successive injections of cationic human IgG and rabbit anti-human IgG into rats. In PHN C5b-9 was found: 1) in the immune deposits (ID), and on the cell membranes of foot processes close to the ID; 2) in clathrin-coated pits of the glomerular epithelial cells (GEC) close to the ID and in membrane vesicles in the cytoplasm, separated from sheep IgG and the gp330 Ag; 3) in high concentration in multivesicular bodies of GEC; and 4) in association with membrane vesicles in the urinary space which presumably are the exocytosed content of membrane vesicular bodies. By contrast, in the cationic IgG-MN model C5b-9 was found mostly in ID, but rarely within the GEC. By freeze-fracture electron microscopy we have further identified 200- to 250-A intramembrane particles in PHN in the cell membranes of the "soles" of the foot processes which resemble membrane inserted human C5b-9(m). Degradation products of C5b-9 were further detected by immunoblotting of a 100,000 x g pellet of PHN rat urine. These results indicate that, in PHN, C5b-9 is inserted into the cell membranes of GEC, and that it is selectively endocytosed and transported across GEC by a cellular mechanism which apparently protects the cell from accumulation of membrane-inserted C5b-9.

A beta 1-integrin receptor for fibronectin in human kidney glomeruli.

The fibronectin receptor (FNR) is a transmembrane heterodimeric glycoprotein which shares a common beta 1-chain with several other members of the integrin family of adhesion receptors. The authors have prepared a membrane fraction of isolated human glomeruli, from which two proteins (apparent molecular weights 120 kd and 140 kd) bound to a fibronectin-column, and were selectively released by the synthetic peptide Arg-Gly-Asp-Ser. These molecules were labeled in immune overlays by an antibody raised against the FNR from human placenta that recognizes both the FNR-specific a-chain and the group-specific beta 1-integrin chain. In sections of normal human kidneys this antibody labeled predominately the mesangia and the peripheral capillary walls of glomeruli by an immunoperoxidase procedure. Quantitative immunoelectron microscopy, using an indirect immunogold procedure, revealed a preferential localization along the cell membranes of mesangial, epithelial, and endothelial cells that face the mesangial matrix or the glomerular basement membrane (GBM). In kidney biopsies from patients with various glomerular diseases (membranous and other forms of glomerulonephritis, minimal change disease) the distribution was similar to that in normal glomeruli. These findings indicate that a beta 1-integrin-related FNR is present in normal and diseased human glomeruli.

Identification of a 400-kd protein in the brush borders of human kidney tubules that is similar to gp330, the nephritogenic antigen of rat Heymann nephritis.

The nephritogenic antigen of Heymann nephritis (HN)--a well-studied experimental rat model disease of human membranous glomerulonephritis (MGN)--was recently shown to be a 330-kd glycoprotein (gp330) which is present in the membranes of both the rat tubular brush borders and of podocytes. Because the pathogenic antigen(s) of MGN are unknown, the authors have searched for a gp330-like molecule in human kidney and for its role in MGN. The authors here report that a membrane protein (apparent molecular weight 400 kd) is present in human kidney which is immunologically cross-reactive with rat gp330. By immunoelectron microscopy (using rabbit anti-rat gp330 IgG or a monoclonal anti-400-kd IgG) this molecule is similarly localized in human proximal tubules, but it is absent from the podocytes of human glomeruli. The 400-kd molecule is not detected in the glomerular immune deposits of 30 biopsies of MGN. It is proposed that this is due to the lack of the 400-kd protein in human glomeruli which prevents the formation of initial 400-kd anti-400-kd IgG immune complexes in situ.

Structure and function of the olfactory apparatus in the fresh-water carp, Labeo rohita ham. buch.

The oval olfactory rosette of the carp Labeo rohita belongs to Burne's ('09) rosette column one or to Bateson's (1889) rosette type three. The total olfactory area of the fish is greater than its total retinal area; however, it has been classified with Teichmann's ('54) group of eye-nose fishes. Each olfactory chamber communicates with an anterior, ventral accessory sac; in spite of Burne's ('09) observation that accessory sacs are absent in carps. Movements of the jaw bones dilate and compress the accessory sac. Water is drawn in through the posterior opening (and not through the anterior as suggested by Liermann, '33, and Johnson and Brown, '62) and also expelled through it when the mouth opens and closes for normal respiratory function. Hence, the accessory sac does not draw water across the olfactory rosette through the anterior opening. At intervals, the fish opens its mouth full and wide and draws water into the chamber through the anterior opening as well.