Development of the human fetal kidney from mid to late gestation in male and female infants

Ryan, Danica, Sutherland, Megan R., Flores, Tracey J., Kent, Alison L., Dahlstrom, Jane E., Puelles, Victor G., Bertram, John F., McMahon, Andrew P., Little, Melissa H., Moore, Lynette, and Black, Mary Jane (2018) Development of the human fetal kidney from mid to late gestation in male and female infants. EBioMedicine, 27. pp. 275-283.

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Abstract

Background: During normal human kidney development, nephrogenesis (the formation of nephrons) is complete by term birth, with the majority of nephrons formed late in gestation. The aim of this study was to morphologically examine nephrogenesis in fetal human kidneys from 20 to 41weeks of gestation.

Methods: Kidney samples were obtained at autopsy from 71 infants that died acutely in utero or within 24h after birth. Using image analysis, nephrogenic zone width, the number of glomerular generations, renal corpuscle cross-sectional area and the cellular composition of glomeruli were examined. Kidneys from female and male infants were analysed separately.

Findings: The number of glomerular generations formed within the fetal kidneys was directly proportional to gestational age, body weight and kidney weight, with variability between individuals in the ultimate number of generations (8 to 12) and in the timing of the cessation of nephrogenesis (still ongoing at 37weeks gestation in one infant). There was a slight but significant (r2=0.30, P=0.001) increase in renal corpuscle cross-sectional area from mid gestation to term in females, but this was not evident in males. The proportions of podocytes, endothelial and non-epithelial cells within mature glomeruli were stable throughout gestation.

Interpretation: These findings highlight spatial and temporal variability in nephrogenesis in the developing human kidney, whereas the relative cellular composition of glomeruli does not appear to be influenced by gestational age.

Item ID: 65272
Item Type: Article (Research - C1)
ISSN: 2352-3964
Keywords: Nephrogenesis, Kidney development, Glomerulus, Podocyte
Copyright Information: © 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Funders: National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Projects and Grants: NHMRC 1011136, NIH U01DK094526-04S1
Date Deposited: 08 Dec 2020 05:58
FoR Codes: 32 BIOMEDICAL AND CLINICAL SCIENCES > 3215 Reproductive medicine > 321501 Foetal development and medicine @ 100%
SEO Codes: 92 HEALTH > 9201 Clinical Health (Organs, Diseases and Abnormal Conditions) > 920199 Clinical Health (Organs, Diseases and Abnormal Conditions) not elsewhere classified @ 100%
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