Increased glucose increases glomerular basement membrane in metanephric culture.

A model of in vitro renal development has been used to examine the effect of glucose on the glomerular basement membrane. Glomerular differentiation in this system progresses to an arborizing tuft of podocytes overlying well-formed basal lamina. The proportional amount of lamina densa and dense fibrillary matrix was increased in blastemas grown in an increased amount of glucose during the last 4 of 7 days in culture. These observations indicate that glucose itself can stimulate an accumulation of basement membrane, an excess of which is characteristic of diabetic microangiopathy.