[Ultrastructural changes in the kidney following a burn]

The experimental data indicate that in the toxemic period of burn disease primarily affected is the filtering barrier, chiefly podocytes and the basal membrane. Proteinuria that frequently occurs in severe thermal injuries is first of all accounted for by alterations in the glomerular filter membrane. Moreover, proteinuria is aggravated to a certain measure by resorption deficiency of the canaliculi. Morphologically this deficiency appears as hyaline-drop or vacuolar degeneration.