Glucosylated and normal human of rat albumin do not bind to renal basement membranes of diabetic and control rats.

Hyperglucosylated and normal human and rat albumin were injected intravenously into control and streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats. Binding of injected human albumin to renal basement membranes was not observed by immunofluorescence microscopy in the diabetic or control rats irrespective of the form of injected albumin. However, human albumin was found as tubular droplets in both the control and diabetic rats injected with either form of albumin. Spontaneous binding of endogenous rat albumin was observed in a linear pattern on diabetic rat glomerular basement membranes (GBM), but not in the GBM of control rats. No appreciable differences in the intensity of staining for rat albumin was observed in diabetic rats injected with either glucosylated or normal rat albumin. Similarly, no binding of rat albumin to the GBM was observed in control rats irrespective of the type of albumin injected. These studies demonstrate that binding of albumin to renal basement membranes is not dependent on glucosylation.