Ultrastructure of glomerular disease: a review

The high resolution of the electron microscope enabled the investigators to shed light on many problems which had caused controversy among the light microscopists, among them the structure of the capillary wall in the glomerulus, the nature of the mesangium and its behavior in disease and the nature and location of 'fibrinoid' deposits in various glomeruluar diseases. Electron microscopic studies contributed significantly to the understanding of the pathogenesis and the morphogenesis of the disease process in the glomeruli and to a lesser extent in the tubules, the interstitial tissue and the blood vessels. It also proved to have definite diagnostic value. In this review only the more important contributions of the earlier periods are discussed and are supplemented by the more recent information covering approximately the last 10 years.