[Changes in primordial lymphoid organs in chronic glomerulonephritis].
Changes in primordial lymphoid organs (bone marrow and thymus) with respect to the content of a serum thymic factor in the blood and specific activity of end desoxynucleotidyltransferase in the bone marrow and peripheral blood were studied in patients with chronic glomerulonephritis with and without the nephrotic syndrome. The mechanisms of autoimmunization were also studied with respect to the presence of renal tissue autoantigen antibodies. Alteration of primordial lymphoid organs was not attended by the autoimmune changes, i.e. production of the renal autoantigen antibodies was not increased. This makes difficult interpretation of the nephrotic syndrome as an autoimmune process and of glomerulonephritis as a whole. Lymphocytes bearing end desoxynucleotidyltransferase more probably participate in the developmental mechanisms of chronic glomerulonephritis.