Nephrotic syndrome and collagenizing glomerulopathy in PVG/c rats treated with the alpha-mannosidase inhibitor "swainsonine".

Weanling PVG/c rats treated with the alpha-mannosidase inhibitor swainsonine developed increasing proteinuria which terminated as a severe nephrotic syndrome after 35 to 45 days. This was associated with a glomerulopathy characterized by the production of collagen fibrils adjacent to endothelial and mesangial cells, foot process expansion, subepithelial projections of the basement membrane, and splitting of the lamina densa. The swainsonine-induced glomerulopathy appeared to be an exacerbation of a spontaneous abnormality in this strain of rat.