[Mitochondrial changes in the tubular epithelium of wistar-rats with spontaneous nephropathy (author's transl)]

The proximal tubular epithelium of Wistar-rats with a spontaneous glomerulopathy is greatly strained by the consecutive massive tubular storage of proteins in aging animals and by the progression of the disease. Together with the onset of increased tubular insufficiency the mitochondria show remarkable changes. These changes occur mainly in the epithelial cells containing many pigmented residual bodies. Besides changes of the mitochondrial arrangement of the cytoplasm most frequently megamitochondria can be seen. Matrix and cristae may contain multiple inclusions, the nature of which is not clear. The changes in the mitochondria are regarded as the expression of adaptation to an altered situation of energy.