Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2008 Apr;18(2):64-9.
doi: 10.4103/0971-4065.42336.

Thickness of glomerular and tubular basement membranes in preclinical and clinical stages of diabetic nephropathy

I Tyagi, U Agrawal, V Amitabh, A K Jain, S Saxena

Thickness of glomerular and tubular basement membranes in preclinical and clinical stages of diabetic nephropathy

I Tyagi et al. Indian J Nephrol. 2008 Apr.

Abstract

Aims: This study aimed to elucidate the early renal changes in diabetes mellitus (DM) with and without clinical symptoms related to renal damage.

Methods: Renal biopsy was studied in 25 patients (14 with microalbuminuria and 11 with albuminuria) both by light and electron microscopies (LM and EM, respectively) for renal changes and morphometry was performed to study glomerular and tubular basement membranes (GBM and TBM, respectively) width using a Soft Imaging System GmBH (analysis 3).

Results: A significant increase was noted in the mean GBM and TBM thickness in both the preclinical and clinical groups compared to the control group. The changes in the TBM were noted to be predominant in both preclinical and clinical patients.

Conclusions: This study indicates the importance of morphometric evaluation of the GBM and TBM width in the elucidation of early renal damage in diabetic nephropathy, especially in the absence of LM changes. The significance of identification of early renal changes using morphometric techniques for better management of these patients requires further studies.

Keywords: Glomerular basement membrane; microalbuminuria; morphometry.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest: None declared.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Ultrastructure of the glomerular capillary loop with a grid overlay for morphometric assessment
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Andersen AR, Christiansen JS, Andersen JK, Kreiner S, Deckert T. Diabetic nephropathy in type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetes: An epidemiological study. Diabetologia. 1983;25:496–501. - PubMed
    1. Madras Diabetes Research Foundation and Dr. Mohan's Diabetes Specialties Centre, Chennai, I.C.M.R, New Delhi and office of WHO to India, New Delhi, India: Epidemiology of type 2 Diabetes: Indian scenario, Jan 2007.
    1. Wisemen M, Viberti G, Mackintosh D, Jarrett RJ, Keen H. Glycemia, arterial pressure and microalbuminuria in type I (insulin dependent) diabetes mellitus, Diabetologia. 1984;26:401–5. - PubMed
    1. The Expert Committee on the Diagnosis and Classification of Diabetes Mellitus: Follow-up report on the diagnosis of diabetes mellitus. Diabetes Care. 2003;26:3160–7. - PubMed
    1. Zimmet PZ. Diabetes epidemiology as a tool to trigger diabetes research and care. Diabetologia. 1999;42:499–518. - PubMed