Specificity of antibodies to heterologous glomerular and tubular basement membranes in BALB/c mice.

Balb/c mice were immunized with dog insoluble glomerular basement membrane (GBM) or tubular basement membrane (TBM). The titre of circulating antibodies was sequentially determined and their specificity was analysed using various soluble membrane fractions. Glomerular and tubular deposits were studied on serial biopsies by direct immunofluorescence. After elution, from whole kidneys, IgG fixation on normal mouse kidney sections was analysed by indirect immunofluorescence. The conclusions are the following: (a) after immunization with insoluble GBM, the antibodies are mainly directed against collagenous antigenic determinants shared by GBM and TBM; (b) after immunization with insoluble TBM, the antibodies are mainly directed against noncollagenous TBM-specific antigenic determinants.