Abstract
In order to determine the extent to which specific forms of glomerulonephritis
(GN) contribute to the pool of crescentic GN, renal tissues from 17 crescentic
GN patients were examined with special attention to glomerular and interstitial
neutrophil infiltration. Renal tissues from five normal kidneys served as normal
controls. Renal biopsy tissues from five patients with postinfectious GN in
which crescent formation was not observed were also examined as disease
controls. The patients were put into both three groups according to
immunofluorescence findings and two groups according to the active or inactive
phase of the crescents: group 1 with anti-glomerular basement membrane
crescentic GN, one case; group 2 with immune complex crescentic GN, ten cases;
and group 3 with pauci-immune crescentic GN, six cases. Four of the nine
individuals tested were positive for anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody
(44.4%). Glomerular and interstitial neutrophil infiltrations were prominent in
both the active and inactive phase groups, compared to normal controls (p<.05).
Glomerular neutrophil infiltration was significantly prominent in the active
phase group, compared to the inactive phase group (p<.001). In both the active
and inactive phase groups, interstitial neutrophil infiltration was prominent,
compared to disease control groups (p<.05). These results support the concept of
the participation of periglomerular leukocytes in the renal tissue damage of
crescentic GN, although the role of neutrophils was not examined.