Symposium Communications

Abstract

Recent scientific developments have greatly increased our knowledge of the pathomechanisms of renal diseases. In parallel new analytical techniques have been described for the exclusion, detection and differentiation of glomerular and tubular dysfunctions.The organizers of this symposium therefore invited colleagues active in Renal Biochemistry and Physiology, Clinical Chemistry and Clinical Nephrology to exchange their present knowledge and discuss the possible diagnostic impact of recent developments. The meeting was held as a satellite to the 5th European Congress of Clinical Chemistry, Krakow, Poland. It was generously sponsored by Boehringer Mannheim, Germany.Most contributions are given as original papers in the present issue. Therefore this report concentrates on the discussions and conclusions of the meeting. The readers are referred to the original literature for detailed information. Glomerular Filtration H. J.Schurek reported on the present understanding of the mechanisms which determine glomerular permeability (1). According to present knowledge, glomerular filtration of proteins is limited by a size-selective and a charge-selective barrier. Under normal conditions, albumin permeability is lower than expected from the size of the molecule, indicating that negative charges prevent albumin from leaking into the Bowman's space. This is supported by the obser-Eur.