The spectrum of urinary basement membrane antigen excretion in normal and pathological rabbit urine

The work presented here concerns the excretion of basement membrane-like fragments into the urine of rabbits. The spectrum of urinary antigen excretion in normal rabbits as well as those with Masugi nephritis and acute serum sickness was investigated. It was found that the urinary antigen content of rabbits with Masugi nephritis was markedly different to that of normal urine whereas urine from rabbits with acute serum sickness was similar. This difference between the two groups was presumably due to the more extensive renal lesions seen in Masugi nephritis compared to the mainly glomerular lesions of acute serum sickness. It was concluded that studies on urinary basement membrane antigens can provide information on the severity and extent of renal lesions.