Immune-mediated injury to basement membranes in mice immunized with murine laminin.

Mice immunized with laminin isolated from mouse EHS sarcoma developed immune-mediated pathological changes in the basement membranes of the kidneys and lungs, and in the subendothelial basement membranes of arteries in the kidney. Subendothelial and mesangial dense deposits were seen in the renal glomerulus. Thickening and splitting of both the glomerular basement membrane and the alveolar basement membrane occurred in mice immunized with laminin. Granular dense structures were present in the lamina densa of subendothelial basement membranes of renal arteries. Staining for in vivo-bound mouse IgG was observed primarily along the glomerular basement membrane and in the mesangium by the indirect peroxidase technique. Mouse IgG was also detected in the adventitial connective tissue of renal arteries and was present focally along tubular basement membranes. No circulating antibody was detectable using either Western immunoblotting or microELISA techniques.