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Morphological difference of the renal glomerulus at different age groups have been studied in young (three month-old), adult (twelve month-old) and old (thirty month-old) Fisher strain 344 rats. Pieces of the tissues were taken from renal corticies prefixed with 2.5% glutaraldehyde-1.5% paraformaldehyde (0.1 M Millonig’s phosphate buffer, pH 7.3), following by post-fixation with 1% osmium tetroxide (0.1 M Millonig’s phosphate buffer, pH 7.3) and embedded within Araldite. The ultrathin sections contrasted with uranyl acetate and lead citrate were observed under a JEM 100CX electron microscope. The mean thickness of glomerular basal lamina and Bowman’s capsule were determined by measuring the thinnest portion of basal lamina, and by taking the average of 50 readings from electron micrographs at different ages. The numerical changes of the slit pores were compared based upon the numbers over the length of 10um of glomerular basal lamina. The results were as follow: 1. The thickness of glomerular basal lamina is increased during aging; 140.4 nm in young rats, 270.0 nm in adult ones, and 437.8 nm in old ones. 2. The thickness of basal lamina of parietal cells of Bowman’s capsule is 187.5 nm in young rats, 914.0 nm in adult ones, and 2850.0 nm in old ones. 3. The numbers of the slit pores of basal lamina are reduced during aging, 30.3 slit pores/$10{\mu}m$ in adult ones, and 24.2 slit pores/$10{\mu}m$ in old ones. 4. Accumulation of dense intracytoplasmic filamentous material in the parietal cells of Bowman’s capsule is increased in the vicinity of the basal lamina during aging. The proximal tubule-like epithelial cell in Bowman’s capsule is observed at one glomerulus in a young rat. 5. The endothelial cells are edematous and form balloon-like structure protruding into capillary lumen in young and old rats. 6. Cytoplasm of the podocyte shows a variety of alteration during aging, such as swelling of mitochondria and of endoplasmic reticulum, and increase of microtubules, microfilaments, lysosomes and lamellated myelin structures, etc. Accumulation of dense intracytoplasmic material in the foot processes is increased in the vicinity of the basal lamina during aging. The podocytic membrane-like structures are seen in young and o]d rats. 7. The mesangial matrices and mesangial cells are increased during aging, and slight swelling of endoplasmic reticulum and Golgi cisternae in young and old rats.
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