Widening of capillary neck and alteration of extracellular matrix ultrastructure in diabetic rat glomerulus as revealed by computer morphometry and improved tissue processing.

Morphological and morphometric studies of glomeruli were carried out in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats using improved tissue processing and computerized morphometry. Increased mesangial matrix, occupying the enlarged diabetic mesangium, contained an abundance of dark granular material in addition to the microfibrils which were usually found in the control glomeruli. In the diabetic glomeruli, the lamina densa was thick and heterogeneous showing a dense layer both on its epithelial and endothelial aspects, and the lamina rara externa contained more fibrils than in control rats. Detailed estimation of the absolute values of the various compartments of the diabetic glomeruli by using perfusion-fixed materials and a computer-assisted digitizer revealed that the volume and surface area of the mesangium were increased more extensively than those of the capillary; the enlargement of the mesangial-capillary interface area was the most pronounced among the morphometric changes of the diabetic glomeruli; and that the moderate increase in capillary volume was associated with an increased radius. Our quantitative results showed that capillaries in the diabetic glomeruli had an extensively wider neck which may be the first sign of structural damage to the glomerular tuft.