Thickening of basement membrane of muscle capillary in spontaneously diabetic KK mice.
In order to clarify the relationship between the thickening of muscle capillary basement membrane (MCBM) and diabetes mellitus, an experimental study was carried out using spontaneously diabetic KK mice. Glucose tolerance tests and the measurements of the width of MCBM were performed in KK mice and DD mice at the age of one week through 16 months. The KK mice, in general, revealed a less increase in body weight, compared with the control mice. Impaired glucose tolerance in the KK mice was observed at the age of 2 weeks and remained for 12 months. The width of MCBM increased in both KK and DD mice with the aging process until 6 months. Thereafter, however, the KK mice revealed a significant increase of the width of MCBM. In both KK mice and DD mice, significant correlations were observed between age and the width of MCBM. In contrast, there was no significant correlation between glucose intolerance figured out as the sum of blood glucose levels and the width of MCBM. The present study suggests that the thickening of MCBM in the KK mice may occur as an aging phenomenon on the one hand and may develop as the consequence of long-term carbohydrate derangement based on genetic disposition on the other hand.
D000375:Aging; D000818:Animals; D001485:Basement Membrane / Q000648:ultrastructure; D002196:Capillaries / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D005951:Glucose Tolerance Test; D051379:Mice; D008815:Mice, Inbred Strains; D008854:Microscopy, Electron; D009132:Muscles / Q000098:blood supply* / Q000648:ultrastructure