SIGNIFICANCE OF POSTGLOMERULAR CAPILLARIES IN THE PATHOGENESIS OF CHRONIC-RENAL-FAILURE

Correlations between the relative volume of the intertubular capillari es in the renal cortex and the serum creatinine concentration in prima ry glomerulopathies, renal vasculopathies, and chronic interstitial ne phritides are reported. In the mesangioproliferative glomerulonephriti des, there are significant negative correlations between the number an d area of the intertubular capillaries in the cortex and the serum cre atinine concentration. In diabetic glomerulosclerosis, renal glomerula r amyloidosis, decompensated benign nephrosclerosis, secondary maligna nt nephrosclerosis, and chronic interstitial nephritis, there is a sig nificant negative correlation between die relative area of the intertu bular capillaries and the serum creatinine concentration. Thus, in the se diseases, there is progressive narrowing/obliteration of the postgl omerular capillaries which leads to a progressive decrease in glomerul ar filtration rate and thus to a rise in serum creatinine concentratio n.