Autopsies from diabetic and non-diabetic Pima Indians will be examined from a series drawn as a representative sample of the autopsy population by Dr. Peter Bennett. Routine light microscopic studies, and potentially electron microscopic studies, will be performed to assess the histopathologic lesions present in these autopsy specimens. Particular attention will be paid to epithelial basement membranes and vascular extracellular matrix areas. In addition, the PI is chairman of the Natural History Committee of the Pima Indian Project funded by contracts N01-DK-7-2291 and N01-DK-6-2285. The Natural History portion will correlate the histologic, renal physiologic and cell biologic aspects of the kidney disease of diabetes mellitus of the Pima indians.
