Dense deposit disease: its possible pathogenesis suggested by an observation of a patient.

A girl, aged 8, was admitted to a hospital in a state of nephrotic syndrome of one year's duration. The renal biopsy showed mesangial and endocapillary proliferations with lobulation. Dense deposit was not demonstrated by electron microscopy, but lamellation of the lamina densa was found in most of the capillary loops. Her condition was improved by steroid treatment in a few months, but moderate proteinuria persisted. Five and half years later, follow-up biopsy showed typical pathological features of dense deposit disease. It is suggested that the lamellation of the lamina densa in the first biopsy could be related to the dense alteration of glomerular basement membrane in the second biopsy.