Renal amyloidosis (Part II)

As reported in the previous chapter (Part I) the term amyloidosis refers to the deposition of an amorphous substance defined by the presence of fibrillary structure by electron microscopy and a characteristic betapleated sheet structure by X-ray diffraction. Renal biopsy is fundamental in diagnostic terms because morphological demonstration is necessary and the tissue most frequently involved by amyloidosis is the kidney. In the previous chapter we presented the different histochemical and immunohistochemical techniques that are necessary to differentiate the two main types of amyloidosis defined as AL and AA. Here we show the variability of deposition of amyloid in glomerular, vascular and interstitial compartments.