Recent studies on 'hyalinized' glomeruli

Hyalinized glomeruli in tissue sections those isolated from kidneys of subjected with end-stage and diabetic nephropathies and from aged persons (older than 75 years) were studied by histochemical, immunohistochemical, electron microscopic, and chemical methods. Our purposes were as follows: (1) to clarify the pathogenic mechanisms of glomerular hyalinization; (2) to resolve some of the controversies on terminology in the literature. Results showed significant increases in the amounts of collagen (13% to 30%), carbohydrates (30% to 47%), and lipids (58% to 82%), and decreases in the amounts of DNA (40%) and RNA (40% to 50%) in the hyalinized glomeruli of diseases compared with normally sized matched glomeruli. I conclude that glomerular hyalinization is a complex molecular pathogenic process.