Glomerular immunoglobulin deposits induce glomerular inflammation in pregnant but not in non-pregnant rats.
OBJECTIVE
Does an inflammatory stimulus evoke a more intense inflammatory response in pregnant rats as compared with non-pregnant rats?


METHODS
Non-pregnant rats were injected with antibodies against the glomerular basement membrane (GBM), 14 days before pregnancy, to induce a subclinical glomerulonephritis. Part of the rats were rendered pregnant, the others remained non-pregnant throughout the experiment. Two experiments were performed: in experiment 1, pregnant and non-pregnant rats were killed at various intervals after the injection with antibody and parameters characteristic of a glomerular inflammation were evaluated using immunohistology on cryostat kidney sections and liver sections. In experiment 2, 24-hr urinary protein excretion was measured at various days after the injection in pregnant and non-pregnant rats.


RESULTS
Experiment 1 revealed that a significant glomerular inflammation, as characterized by increased numbers of monocytes and LFA-1 positive cells per glomerulus, was only observed in pregnant rats with glomerulonephritis. Experiment 2 revealed that only pregnant rats with glomerulonephritis showed increased urinary protein excretion.


CONCLUSIONS
The fact that glomerular inflammation coincides with proteinuria only in pregnant rats with glomerulonephritis, may suggest that these phenomena are causally related and promoted by the pregnant condition.
Reproductive Immunology, Division of Medical Biology, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands. m.m.faas@med.rug.nl
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Faas
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Van Der Schaaf
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Schipper
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Moes
D000818:Animals; D001485:Basement Membrane / Q000276:immunology; D005260:Female; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000276:immunology*; D007249:Inflammation / Q000209:etiology / Q000276:immunology; D007674:Kidney Diseases / Q000209:etiology / Q000276:immunology*; D007678:Kidney Glomerulus / Q000276:immunology*; D008099:Liver / Q000276:immunology; D011247:Pregnancy; D011506:Proteins; D011507:Proteinuria / Q000276:immunology; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar
D007074:Immunoglobulin G; D011506:Proteins