Studies on the relationship between proteinuria and glomerular ultrastructural change in hyperalbuminaemic female Wistar rats.

Increased albumin filtration was shown to cause glomerular epithelial cell foot process loss in female Wistar rats made hyperalbuminaemic by means of a series of intraperitoneal bovine albumin injections. It appeared to act by stimulating glomerular epithelial cell endocytosis with the result that protein droplets and vacuoles accumulated within the epithelium causing marked cytoplasmic swelling which forced the foot processes to spread out and fuse. The severity of this glomerular ultrastructural damage rose with increasing bovine albumin dose and correlated well with induced proteinuria.