Histochemistry and ultrastructure of the interstitium of the renal papilla in rats with hereditary diabetes insipidus (brattleboro strain)

The Brattleboro strain of Long‐Evans hooded rats has hereditary hypothalamic diabetes insipidus due to the inability to produce antidiuretic hormone. Animals homozygous for this autosomal recessive trait have extreme polyuria and polydipsia, whereas heterozygotes are less severely affected. Light and electron microscopy were used to study the interstitial tissue of the renal papilla of Brattleboro rats and normal Long‐Evans rats. Staining with alcian blue or colloidal iron revealed that homozygous Brattleboro rats (DI) have greatly reduced quantities of glycosaminoglycans in the papillary interstitium. Heterozygotes showed staining similar but not identical to that of normal rats. The papillary interstitial cells of DI rats lacked the cytoplasmic processes seen in normal rats, and the normal relationship of these cells to the tubular elements of the papilla was absent. Electron microscopy revealed that the papillary interstitial cells of DI rats appeared less active than those of heterozygous or normal rats. In DI rats these cells displayed reduced numbers of lipid droplets and mitochondria, and the Golgi apparatus and rough endoplasmic reticulum were poorly developed. The altered ultrastructure of the papillary interstitial cells may be responsible for the reduction of interstitial glycosaminoglycans in DI rats. Glycosaminoglycans possess properties which may contribute to urinary concentration. It is suggested that the interstitial tissue of the renal papilla is influenced by antidiuretic hormone.