Renal structure and function in insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus and type I membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis in humans

Renal pathological changes of diabetes include thickening of all renal extracellular basement membranes and the mesangial matrix and, to a lesser extent, mesangial cell expansion. Two renal lesions appear critical in diabetic nephropathy. Mesangial expansion out of proportion to the size of the glomerulus is related to proteinuria, hypertension, and declining GFR. Arteriolar hyalinosis is related to global glomerulosclerosis, and both are correlated with the clinical features of nephropathy. By the time renal dysfunction is clinically detectable, these lesions tend to be advanced. Interstitial volume may be increased in insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, particularly in areas containing sclerotic glomeruli or marked tubular atrophy. Parallel findings were documented for type I membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis in which the increased mesangial volume fraction was related to decreased GFR, increased glomerular permeability to protein, and hypertension. As in diabetes, the cortical interstitial volume fraction is correlated with functional abnormalities in type I membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis. Thus, in both of these chronic glomerular disorders, mesangial expansion and interstitial expansion are associated with disordered renal function. Thus, it is not true that glomerular structural changes correlate poorly with glomerular function. Whether it is the glomerular or interstitial pathology or both that is causally responsible for the dysfunction requires further study.