Immunoglobulin-A nephropathy with crescentic glomerulonephritis in a pigtailed macaque (Macaca nemestrina)

Abstract

A 4-year-old female pigtailed macaque (Macaca nemestrina), experimentally coinfected with simian immunodeficiency virus (SIVmac251) and Mycobacterium bovis(bacillus Calmette-Guerin), was euthanatized 1 year after infection because of weight loss and labored breathing. On gross examination, both kidneys were found to be markedly enlarged (right: 54.7 g and left: 51.7 g; normal < 20 g). Renal lesions were evaluated by histopathologic, immunohistochemical, and ultrastructural methods. Light microscopy revealed that the glomeruli were diffusely hypercellular with expansion of the mesangial matrix, and crescent formation affected approximately 60% of the glomeruli. By immunohistochemical evaluation, it was found that the crescents were composed principally of macrophages, as seen by CD68 (KP1), MRP8, MAC387, and HAM56 expression. Electron microscopic examination of the glomeruli revealed extensive intramembranous, subendothelial, and mesangial electron-dense deposits and multifocal fusion of the visceral epithelial foot processes. Immunofluorescence, used to determine the composition of the electron-dense deposits, revealed diffuse granular mesangial and capillary staining for immunoglobulin A (IgA). The renal changes described in this case report are most consistent with the findings of crescentic gloerulonephritis with IgA immune complex deposition in the glomerular basement membrane and mesangium as described in humans with IgA nephropathy.