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. 2018 Mar 20;8:4909. doi: 10.1038/s41598-018-23244-2

Figure 3.

Figure 3

Glomerular histologic and ultrastructural findings in advanced DKD. Patient 2. (A) A light microscopy image shows an hypertrophic glomerulus with prominent nodular expansion of the mesangium due primarily to increased matrix (Kimmelstiel-Wilson nodules). Other features of these nodules are mesangiolysis and initial microaneurysm formation. The surrounding tubular parenchyma reveals somewhat diffuse mild interstitial fibrosis, associated with focal tubular atrophy (periodic acid-Schiff). (B) A transmission electron micrograph documents dramatic denudation of GBM (arrow). C, capillary lumen; GBM, glomerular basement membrane, US, urinary space. (C) Glomerular scanning electron micrographs, with the corresponding high magnification insets (D and E). A large, mostly acellular glomerulus, protrudes from the renal cortex surface. (D, arrow) Fragments of foot processes remained in very few areas. (E, asterisk) A lonely podocyte, with a vague bottle-shaped cellular body, appears to be almost nearly completely detached from the underlying GBM surface. (F) The surface of a sclerotic glomerulus with an extensively shattered and fragmented GBM. (F, inset) A tangle of elongated collagen fibrils has replaced the typical glomerular structures.