INVOLVEMENT OF IMMUNOPATHOGENIC MECHANISMS IN A SPONTANEOUSLY OCCURRING GLOMERULOPATHY IN MICE

Mice have been found to be susceptible to spontaneous renal localizati on of immune deposits. However, the significance of these immune depos its is still debated. We investigated the immunopathogenesis of a natu rally occurring glomerulopathy associated with progressive proteinuria and glomerulosclerosis in 75 BALB/c mice. The mice were divided into five groups of 15 and killed at the age of 1, 3, 6, 12, or 18 months f or laboratory and renal pathologic studies. These mice showed persiste ntly increasing serum levels of immune complexes, a marked increase of glomerular immune deposits which were capable of fixing C3, and inter stitial infiltration of lymphocytes and plasma cells, followed by the occurrence of proteinuria, mesangiopathy, and glomerulosclerosis. Our findings suggest that an immune system mediated process occurred in th e kidneys of the mice tested.