title: Number of nephrons in normal human kidneys and kidneys of patients with the congenital nephrotic syndrome.  A study using a sieving method for counting of glomeruli.
abstract: A method of graded sieving for counting of glomeruli in removed kidneys is described.  The number of nephrons (glomeruli) in six normal kidneys deriving from sutopsies of three children 22-73 months of age was 1.82 plus or minus 0.35 times 10-6.  The results give a little higher number than most previous studies with which they are compared.  In the kidneys of two 10- and 15-month-old patients with the congenital nephrotic syndrome of the Finnish type the mean number of nephrons was 3.17 plus or minus 0.52 times 10-6 which is on the average 73% higher than in the normal kidneys studied.  The number of nephrons in kidneys of five other patients showed an average of at least 3.42 plus or minus 0.30 times 10-6 the counting method being a little different.  The unusually high number of nephrons in CNF kidneys seems to be fully evident.
mesh_terms: D002675:Child, Preschool; D002869:Chromosome Aberrations; D025063:Chromosome Disorders; D005808:Genes, Recessive; D006652:Histological Techniques; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007668:Kidney / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000473:pathology*; D007678:Kidney Glomerulus; D009399:Nephrons / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D009404:Nephrotic Syndrome / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology*