Morphological Findings in 70 Kidneys of Living Donors for Renal Transplant

Seventy donor kidneys for transplant were studied with light microscopy (LM), electron microscopy (EM) and immunofluorescence (1M) for C 3, C 4, Clq, IgG, IgA, IgE, IgM, and antifibrin; the samples were taken just before transplanting the allograft kidney. Glomerular changes were found in 35.7% of apparently normal living donors: 9 cases showed relative glomerular ischemia with an irregular basal membrane (12.9%); 5 cases showed a diffusely widened basal membrane without antecedents of hyperglycemia (7.1 %); in one case (1.4 %) there was a lesion similar to type 1 mesangio-capillary glomerulonephritis with C3 ++, IgG ++, IgA +, and IgM +; in another case (1.4%) there were scant isolated C 3 glomerular, subepithelial deposits with indentation of the basement membrane of the immunocomplex type with a microhematuria which was demonstrated only after donation, and in 9 cases (among them two pairs of siblings) there were mesangial IgA and mesangial electron-dense deposits compatible with Berger's disease (12.9%). None of these glomerulopathies were evident under LM.