Synonyms in a broader sense
- Filter ignition
- Flammable filter destruction
- Kidney Inflammation
- Nephritis
- Fishbowl inflammation
- Nephrotic syndrome
- Renal corpuscle inflammation
Definition
Glomerulonephritis is an inflammation (hence the suffix -itis) of the filtering system (or vascular clusters = glomeruli) of the kidneys (nephr-) with immigration of inflammatory cells. Glomerulonephritides are the second most common cause of chronic renal insufficiency (kidney failure) in Europe. A characteristic feature is that the inflammation always occurs in both kidneys simultaneously. Glomerulonephritis is a common cause of nephrotic syndrome.
Introduction
Glomerulonephritides are classified in different ways. They can be classified according to the symptoms or according to the mircoscopic features (histopathological or electron microscopic). The classification based on immunohistochemical characteristics (behavior of the kidney tissue) is also common.
The classification used here is based on the characteristics found under the light microscope (histological): Infestation can affect all filters (diffuse) or only certain glomeruli (focal). If the blood vessel loops are also affected, this is referred to as semgental infestation. You can find out more about the different forms under: Forms of glomerulonephritis
- Minimal-Change Glomerulonephritis
- Endocapillary-proliferative glomerulonephritis (= Post-Streptococcal-GN)
- Mesangioproliferative glomerulonephritis of the IgA type
- Focal-segmented glomerulosclerosis
- Membranous glomerulonephritis
- Membrane-proliferative glomerulonephritis
- Necrotizing intra-/extracapillary-proliferative (= rapid progressive) glomerulonephritis
Cause of glomerulonephritis
The exact cause of some forms is still unclear today. Only in the forms that occur after an inflammation (post-infectious = caused by an inflammation), the connection to the triggering factors seems clear. For the other forms, connections with infections are also only suspected.
Design and function of the kidney filter
In order to better understand this disease and its various forms, it is helpful to take a brief look at the structure and function of the kidney filter. The kidneys are divided into bark and marrow. The filters are located in the renal cortex.
The central functional unit is the nephron. Each kidney has about 1 million nephrons. They contain the glomeruli, which are also called malphigi corpuscles and each contain about 30 smallest blood vessel loops for filtering the blood.
Involved in the filter system are from the inside out: the size of the “pores” is chosen so that only certain, relatively small components of the blood can be filtered. This is supported by the charge of the filter (it is negatively charged). Since equally charged substances are repelled, only neutral and positively charged substances are filtered.
You can find out more about the function of the kidneys under our topic: Kidney.
- The fenestrated endothelial cell layer (a layer of blood vessels)
- One basal membrane and
- Suction. Foot cells (podocytes).
