Production of pseudodiabetic renal glomerular changes in mice after repeated injections of glucosylated proteins.

Plasma proteins glucosylated in vitro were injected repeatedly into 7 mice. A group of 4 was given multiple injections of non-glucosylated plasma proteins and another 10 were untreated. 5 of 7 mice given glucosylated proteins had glomerular-basement-membrane thickening on electron microscopical examination. This feature is characteristic of human and experimental diabetic renal disease. These results suggest that there may be a link between plasma-protein glucosylation and diabetic nephropathy.