title: Ultrastructure of the kidney of the marine teleost Sparus auratus: the renal corpuscle and the tubular nephron.
abstract: The ultrastructure of the renal corpuscle and tubule of Sparus auratus is described. The parietal epithelium in Bowman's capsule is flattened with occasional cilia; podocytes are large with bundles of perinuclear microfilaments, a large vacuole and occasional cilia; a filtration slit membrane can sometimes be identified; mesangial cells are placed peripherally and among the walls of the capillaries. The neck segment is short and ciliated; it lacks the mucous cells which appear in some teleosts. The first proximal segment has columnar cells with a well developed brush border, and some cilia, large light vacuoles and many lysosomes appear in the apical zone; the second proximal segment has taller cells than the former, which appear with a less dense brush border, containing numerous multivesicular bodies; the third proximal segment, which has cells similar to the previous ones, possesses a less developed brush border and numerous mitochondria scattered all over the cytoplasm. No distal tubule is present. There is a collecting tubule with columnar cells with few microvilli and some apical mucin granules which empty into the collecting duct.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001485:Basement Membrane / Q000648:ultrastructure; D005399:Fishes / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D007668:Kidney / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D007684:Kidney Tubules / Q000648:ultrastructure; D008871:Microvilli / Q000648:ultrastructure; D009399:Nephrons / Q000648:ultrastructure*