HISTOLOGY AND HISTOPATHOLOGY

Cellular and Molecular Biology



Review

Hyperlipidemia and kidney disease:Concepts derived from histopathology and cell biology of the glomerulus

V.S. Kamanna, D.D. Roh and M.A. Kirschenbaum

Nephrology Section, Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Long Beach, California and the Division of Nephrology and Hypertension, Department of Medicine, University of California, Irvine, USA

Offprint requests to: Vaijinath S. Kamanna, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Medicine, Director, Nephrology Research Laboratories (151), Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, 5901 East Seventh Street, Long Beach, CA 90822, USA

 

Summary. The association between hyperlipidemia and renal disease was noted by Virchow as early as the 19th century. Subsequently, similar histopathological lipid depositions were confirmed in diverse human and experimental renal diseases. Although, no studies have been established in man to suggest a causal relationship between lipids and the pathogenesis of renal disease, compelling evidence accumulated in experimental animals suggests a direct role of lipids in the initiation and progression of glomerular disease. These studies showed that cholesterol-feeding to various experimental animals induced the development of glomerular injury. Furthermore, the treatment of hyperlipidemic animals with lipid lowering drugs prevented the development of glomerulosclerosis.

In this article, we will review recent advances made in understanding various aspects of lipid-mediated renal injury including biochemical mechanisms of hyper-lipidemia, a possible direct role of hyperlipidemia in the pathogenesis of renal disease, pathobiological accumulation of lipids and lipoproteins, biochemical and histological similarities between systemic atherosclerosis and glomerulosclerosis, and cellular processes involved in the development of glomerular disease. Furthermore, we will define cellular and molecular hypotheses that provide putative mechanisms by which hyperlipidemia and atherogenic lipoproteins induce series of cyto-regulatory peptide-mediated events involved in the development of glomerular disease. Histol Histopathol 13, 169-179 (1998)

 

Key words: Hypercholesterolemia, Atherogenic lipoproteins, Cytokines, Growth fractors


DOI: 10.14670/HH-13.169