Alpha 1-antitrypsin and antithrombin III in atrophic nephrons of chronic pyelonephritis

In a series of investigation to elucidate the roles of chemical substances in the atrophic process of nephron in chronic pyelonephritis (CPN), two protease inhibitors (PI) and enterobacterial antigen were examined by immunofluorescence (IF). Alpha-antitrypsin (alpha 1AT) was always found in the sclerotic glomerular tuft (GT) and along the thickened Bowman's capsule (BC) as well as the thickened tubular basement membrane (TBM) in every atrophic nephron of CPN. Antithrombin III (AT III) was always found along the inside of thickened TBM in every atrophic nephron, but not found in the sclerotic GT nor along the thickened BC. No enterobacterial antigen was present in the sclerotic GT, thickened BC, and thickened TBM. Therefore, alpha 1AT and AT III seem to play significant roles in the process of atrophy of nephrons as a different factor from the persistence of enterobacterial antigen which has been considered to be one of the progressive factors of CPN. At III was easily dissociated from the thickened TBM after the incubation in warm (37 degrees C) 0.01 M phosphate buffered saline of various pH (pH 4.0, pH 7.2 or pH 10.0) and cold (4 degrees C) or warm (37 degrees C) 0.75 M hydrazine solutions of the same pH, while alpha 1AT was not dissociated from the atrophic nephrons after the incubation in all solutions. These results may imply different processes of deposition between the two PI in the atrophic nephrons.