It has been proposed that "nephron underdosing," i.e., a low number of nephrons at the time of birth, is linked to essential hypertension and a greater propensity to develop progressive loss of renal function after renal injury. This hypothesis was confirmed recently by examining the number of glomeruli in patients with essential hypertension. The mechanisms through which a low number of nephro...

Claudins are integral membrane proteins of the tight junction that determine the magnitude and selectivity of paracellular permeability in epithelial tissues. The mammalian renal tubule exhibits considerable heterogeneity in the permeability properties of its different segments. To determine the nephron segment localization of claudin-7 and -8, immunofluorescence staining of mouse kidney sectio...

Unlike adult mammals, which can repair but not regenerate new nephrons, fish generate nephrons de novo throughout life and after kidney injury. To explore mechanisms of kidney regeneration that could one day be applied to treat renal disease in humans, Diep et al. used the zebrafish as a model to identify and characterise progenitor cells responsible for nephron regeneration. Using transplantat...

Modified embryonic-fetal development resulting in low birth weight may lead to a reduced nephron endowment, hypertension and renal diseases in adulthood. Regarding the involvement of genetic factors, several environmental conditions may also contribute towards reducing the number of nephrons in the fetus and infant, subsequently constituting a health burden in later life. To date no methods of ...

The tubular nephron of hibernating and non-hibernating specimens of Testudo graeca (Chelonia) was studied by means of conventional light and electron microscopy and histochemistry. The tubular nephron was composed of proximal, intermediate, distal and collecting tubules in both hibernating and non-hibernating animals. The cells of the proximal tubule showed long microvilli, cytoplasmic vacuoles...

A model of three coupled nephrons branching from a common cortical radial artery is developed to further understand the effects of equal and unequal coupling on tubuloglomerular feedback. The integral model of Pitman et al. (2002), which describes the fluid flow up the thick ascending limb of a single, short-looped nephron of the mammalian kidney, is extended to a system of three nephrons throu...

The mechanism of glomerular ultrafiltration in normal kidneys or after renal injury is reviewed. The role of increased glomerular plasma flow in mediating increases of nephron filtration rate is evidenced under experimental conditions resulting in filtration pressure disequilibrium along glomerular capillaries. The increase of nephron filtration in hypertrophied kidneys appears to be due mainly...