Tubulointerstitial nephritis and glomerulonephritis in Brown-Norway rats immunized with heterologous glomerular basement membrane.

Tubulointerstitial nephritis and glomerulonephritis were produced in Brown-Norway rats (BN) by a single immunization with 2 mg of lyophilized bovine glomerular basement membrane. Tubulointerstitial nephritis was evident before glomerulonephritis. Antibody first bound to tubular basement membranes (TBM), and then the renal cortex was infiltrated with inflammatory cells. The TBM was split, and many renal tubules, especially proximal tubules, were destroyed. Approximately 14 days after the beginning of the tubular phase, antibody was observed to be bound to glomerular basement membranes (GBM) in linear fashion. There was epithelial and mesangial cell proliferation, splitting and reduplication of GBM, crescent formation, and glomerular scarring and atrophy.