The detection of monocytes in human renal biopsies: a prospective study.

A total of 52 non-transplant and 16 transplant renal biopsies were examined for the presence of monocytes in the glomeruli using the non-specific esterase reaction. Four of the non-transplant and 4 of the transplant group were positive. The 4 non-transplant samples all showed the presence of granular IgG and C3 together with electron dense deposits in the basement membrane. In contrast the positive transplant samples showed vascular rejection with little immune protein deposition and no deposits. One patient with focal glomerulosclerosis had large clumps of esterase positive material in the glomeruli in association with deposits of C3 and the presence of foam cells.