Lysosomal storage of sulfated glycosaminoglycans in renal interstitial cells of rats treated with tilorone.

This investigation provides histochemical evidence for lysosomal storage of sulfated glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) in the interstitial cells of the renal cortex and in macrophage-like cells of the renal medullary zones of rats chronically treated with the drug tilorone. This compound is known to interfere with lysosomal degradation of sulfated GAGs; therefore cells that develop GAG-storage can be assumed to be involved in the turnover of GAGs. In view of this consideration, the most remarkable and still unexplained finding was that the intrinsic interstitial cells in the papilla, which is known to be particularly rich in sulfated GAGs, did not show the cytological symptoms of lysosomal GAG-storage. The present findings may stimulate further studies focused on the cellular sites of turnover of the sulfated GAGs present in the renal medullary interstitium.