Murine Model of Crescentic Nephritis

In humans rapidly progressive glomerulonephritis is characterized by glomerular inflammation and the formation of glomerular crescents, composed of an infiltrate of mononuclear inflammatory cells and proliferating parietal epithelial cells. As disease progresses the crescents infringe on the urinary space, compressing the glomerular tuft, ultimately causing nonreversible acute renal failure. This process is almost always associated with severe interstitial and periglomerular inflammation. Typically, the inflammatory infiltrate gives way to a progressive fibrotic process involving the crescents and the periglomerular and peritubular interstitium, accompanied by tubular atrophy and progressive renal failure (1 ).