Metabolic and ultrastructural aspects of experimental diabetic glomerulopathy

The effects of alloxan induced diabetes and insulin treatment on rat kidney glomerular ion transport and the oxidative phosphorylation were investigated in order to correlate metabolic and ultrastructural alterations. In alloxan diabetic rats an early decrease of Na+K+ ATPase activity in isolated glomeruli preparations and the subsequent uncoupling of oxidative phosphorylation were observed. These metabolic alterations are associated with structural changes such as the thickening of the basement membrane and the disorganization of both endothelial and mesangial cells. Insulin treatment induces a slow and only partial recovery of metabolic changes. Ultrastructural features of the kidney cortex were almost completely normalized after only two months of insulin treatment.