Nephritogenic glycoprotein. VI. Induction of proliferative glomerulonephritis with the immunofluorescent 'mesangial pattern' in rats by a single injection of soluble glycoprotein isolated from human urine.

Proliferative glomerulonephritis was induced in rats by a single injection in the hind footpads of the urinary glycoprotein or more purified urinary glycopeptide with Freund's incomplete adjuvant. Although the urinary (water-soluble and non-dialyzable) glycoprotein and glycopeptide were prepared from heterologous urines (human urines), the immunofluorescent pattern of the kidneys was not 'granular' but 'mesangial', as in rats given a single injection of homologous or heterologous renal glycoprotein with nephritogenicity. The pathogenesis of proliferative glomerulonephritis in the present experiments may be explained by the same mechanism as that of rats given a single injection of renal glycoprotein, i.e. by any mechanism other than antigen (heterologous protein)-antibody immune complex and anti-GBM antibody mechanisms.