Glomerular Disease Primer

Kidney Disease Section, NIDDK, NIH, Bethesda, MD

Members of our section study various kidney diseases, including lupus nephritis, membranous nephropathy, and the podocyte diseases. In this website, we discuss kidney anatomy, physiology, and histology and several major glomerular diseases.

• The Normal kidney
• Kidney anatomy and physiology
• Glomerular histology
• Glomerular filtration barrier

• Kidney disease
• End-stage kidney disease
• Glomerular disease syndromes
• Remission of glomerular disease
• Classification of glomerular diseases
• Assessing progressive loss of glomerular filtration rate (GFR)
• Stages of chronic kidney disease (CKD)

• Selected glomerular diseases
• Podocyte diseases
• Collapsing glomerulopathy

• Therapy for glomerular disease
• Blood pressure control
• Diet
• Angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors (ACE inhibitors)
• Angiotensin receptor blockers (ARB)
• Glucocorticoids
• Cyclosporine (Neoral, Sandimmune)
• Tacrolimus (FK506, Prograf)
• Cyclophosphamide (Cytoxan)
• Mycophenolate mofetil (Cellcept)
• Sirolimus (Rapamycin, Rapamune)

• Glomerular disease research at NIH
• Minimal change disease
• Steroids for early stage minimal change disease
• Vitamin A derivatives for treatment-resistant minimal change disease
• Focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS)
• Possible viral causes of FSGS and collapsing glomerulopathy
• Genetic causes of FSGS and collapsing glomerulopathy
• Steroids for early stage FSGS and collapsing glomerulopathy
• Vitamin A derivatives for therapy-resistant FSGS and collapsing glomerulopathy
• Pirfenidone for FSGS and collapsing glomerulopathy with progressive loss of kidney function
• Recurrent FSGS and collapsing glomerulopathy following kidney transplant
• Lupus nephritis
• Monoclonal antibody for lupus kidney disease
• Membranous nephropathy
• Sirolimus for idiopathic and lupus membranous nephropathy
• Diabetic nephropathy
• Pirfenidone for diabetic kidney disease