Glomerular structure in the normal human kidney: Differences between living and cadaver donors

Glomerular structure has been studied in tissues derived from normal living and cadaver kidney donors. Values obtained in such subjects were considered interchangeable and have been used to define the normal parameters when evaluating the effects of various renal diseases. The present study evaluated glomerular structure by light and electron microscopy in 83 living and 53 cadaver kidney donors. Glomerular basement membrane (GBM) width (356 ± 52 versus 329 ± 45 nm), glomerular volume (1.64 ± 0.47 versus 1.33 ± 0.39 × 10⁶ μm³), and mesangial matrix volume per glomerulus (0.15 ± 0.05 versus 0.12 ± 0.04 × 10⁶ μm³) were significantly greater in cadaver compared with living kidney donors, respectively. It is hypothesized that glomerular and extracellular matrix swelling is associated with the cadaver kidney preservation process. This study suggests that the normal values for glomerular structure should be derived only from living kidney donor tissues.