Thickness of Glomerular Basement Membranes

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Abstract
The width of basement membrane was measured in 49 glomeruli of 21 individuals. In 7 of them, with 26 glomeruli studied, detailed renal function tests showed normal values. A minimum of 125 measurements was necessary to estimate a mean width within a 95% confidence limit. The mean width was 3146 A, the standard deviation 983 A. The upper limit of mean width of the majority of control cases was 4367 A, but a maximal mean width of 5112 A is still within the limit of normal. There was great irregularity in width, which was not satisfactorily quantitated by standard deviation. All glomeruli were considered "normal" by light and electron microscopy with respect to peripheral basement membrane, endothelial and epithelial cells, irrespective of a limited deposit of periodic acid-Schiff (PAS)-positive material within the mesangium. An increasing amount of PAS-positive deposit in the mesangium seems to parallel, in general, an increasing thickness of peripheral basement membrane. The width of basement membrane in individual cases, however, cannot be related, directly, to mesangial deposits. Arterio- and arteriolosclerosis could not be related to glomerular basement membrane thickness unless associated with wrinkling of the capillary wall. Age and sex are not related to basement membrane width in adults.

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