Increased permeability of hamster microcirculation to glycosylated albumin

The permeability of the microcirculation to native and glycosylated albumin was tested in 25 non-diabetic Syrian hamsters. The microvasculature of the cheek pouch was studied by a fluorescent video-microscopy technique after the animals had been injected with fluorescent native or glycosylated albumin or with both. Native albumin remained in the cheek pouch microvasculature, whereas glycosylated albumin leaked out of the microvascular bed along the postcapillary and collecting venules. The extravascular leakage of glycosylated albumin, probably due to its electrical or conformational change, may represent the initial event in the development of diabetic microangiopathy.