Ferritin was used as a tracer to investigate glomerular permeability in the nephrotic rat. The results were compared with those previously obtained in normal animals. A nephrotic syndrome was induced by 9 daily injections of the aminonucleoside of puromycin. Ferritin was administered intravenously on the 10th day, and kidney tissue was fixed at intervals of 5 minutes to 44 hours after injection of the tracer and examined by electron microscopy.

The observations confirmed that at this stage of the experimental nephrotic syndrome the changes affect predominantly the visceral epithelium (loss of foot processes, reduction and modification of urinary slits, and intracellular accumulation of vacuoles and protein absorption droplets). Less extensive changes were found in other layers (reduction of endothelial fenestrae, an increase in the population of "deep" cells, and a thinning and "loosening" of the basement membrane.)

At short intervals (5 to 15 minutes) after ferritin administration, the tracer was found at high concentration in the lumen and endothelial fenestrae, and at decreasing concentrations embedded throughout the basement membrane and incorporated into the epithelium (within cytoplasmic vesicles and within invaginations of the plasmalemma facing the basement membrane).

After longer intervals (1 to 3 hours) the distribution of the tracer within the capillary wall was similar except that its concentration in the epithelium was higher, and, in addition to plasma membrane invaginations and small vesicles, ferritin also marked larger vacuoles, dense bodies, and intermediate forms. Large accumulations of tracer typically occurred in the spongy areas of the basement membrane, especially in the axial regions. Ferritin also appeared in the endothelium within membrane-limited vacuoles and dense bodies, particularly in the deep cells.

After 6 to 44 hours the tracer still occurred in the lumen and throughout the basement membrane. The ferritin deposits in the spongy areas as well as the ferritin-containing vacuoles of the deep endothelium were larger and more numerous. In the epithelium ferritin was found not only within various membrane-limited bodies, but also "free" within the cytoplasmic matrix.

These observations indicate that in the nephrotic glomerulus, as in the normal, the basement membrane functions as the main filtration barrier; however, in nephrosis, the basement membrane is defective and allows leakage of increased quantitites of ferritin and presumably plasma proteins. The basement membrane defect appears to be fine and widespread, occurring at or near the molecular level of organization of the filter. The accumulation of unfiltered ferritin in axial regions together with the demonstration of its subsequent phagocytosis by the "deep" endothelial cells suggest that the latter may function in the removal of filtration residues. Finally, the findings indicate that in the nephrotic, as in the normal animal, the epithelium acts as a monitor that recovers, at least in part, the protein which leaks through the filter, and that in nephrosis, the recovering activities of the epithelium are greatly enhanced because of the increased permeability of the basement membrane.