Glomerular basement membrane

The glomerular basement membrane is the basal laminal portion of the glomerulus which performs the actual filtration though the filtration slits between the podocytes, separating the blood on the inside from the filtrate on the outside. It is a fusion of the endothelial cell and podocyte basal laminas.

Layers
The GBM contains three layers:

Pathology

 * Goodpasture's syndrome is also known as "anti-glomerular basement membrane disease". Capillaries become inflamed as a result of damage to the basement membrane by antibodies.


 * Nephrotic syndrome is a change in the structure of the glomerular filtration mechanism usually in the glomerular basement membrane. Some symptoms include proteinuria, hypoalbuminaemia, oedema, and hyperlipidemia.


 * Diabetic glomerulosclerosis is a thickening of the basement membrane, which can become up to 4-5 times thicker than normal. Can be caused by insulin deficiency or resultant hyperglycemia.