title: Renal tubular differentiation in mouse and mouse metanephric culture. I. Ultrastructural studies.
abstract: We studied the morphologic features of renal tubular differentiation in transfilter metanephric culture. Differentiation of portions of the S-shaped loop into proximal convoluted tubule was detected shortly after 72 h of culture by the appearance of microvilli, coated membrane invaginations, and an apical vacuolar-microtubular network. These features developed synchronously, and the microvilli became progressively more numerous and more compact to form a brush border. Computer-assisted morphometric analysis showed only minor differences between proximal tubular cells from 18-day embryos and tubular cells from 7-day cultures of blastema taken from 11-day embryos. Segments of tubule corresponding to distal convoluted tubules were lined with relatively simple cells that contained few differentiating characteristics. Morphometric modeling of the tubular cells indicated a simple shape consistent with an inherent transport function.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomic Pathology, William Beaumont Hospital, Royal Oak, MI 48072.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Furuse
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bernstein
authors.forename: L W
authors.initials: LW
authors.lastname: Welling
authors.forename: D J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Welling
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D046508:Culture Techniques; D007687:Kidney Tubules, Proximal / Q000166:cytology* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D051379:Mice; D008854:Microscopy, Electron