THE NUMBER OF GLOMERULAR CELLS AND SUBSTRUCTURES IN EARLY JUVENILE DIABETES

Abstract

A quantitative study of glomerular cells, of some cell organelles and of basement membrane structures has been performed in control subjects and in patients with juvenile, short‐term diabetes. Cell counts showed that the percentage distribution of the three glomerular cell types, as well as cell density, were normal in the groups of diabetics in which thickening of the peripheral basement membrane and increased amounts of mesangial basement membrane‐like material had been demonstrated. Cellular hyperplasia, therefore, is not a primary event in the development of diabetic glomerulopathy. Cisternae in the endoplasmic reticulum, containing basement membrane‐like material, known to be involved in basement membrane synthesis, showed a tendency to occur with increased frequency in patients with a few years' duration of diabetes. Quantitation of heterogeneous inclusion bodies in epithelial cells and of crater‐like formations on the basement membrane gave similar results. Laminated bodies and whorled banded fibers were observed more frequently in diabetic patients. This suggests that the basement membrane material in diabetic glomeruli is not entirely normal. On the basis of the findings it is tentatively suggested that increased basement membrane synthesis plays a role in the pathogenesis of diabetic glomerulopathy.