The Biophysical Modeling of the Nephrogenesis in the Perinatal Periods

Abstract

Our experiments analyzed the microscopic picture of kidneys of patients who died during gestational age or infancy. We wanted to investigate nephrogenesis in its ontogenetic development. We only conducted the analysis until the age of three, because the one million nephron number characteristic of the kidney in adulthood is already developed by the age of three. This perinatal time interval was divided into five periods. Intrauterine are the early fetal (3–5 months) and late fetal periods, neonates (0–1 months), infants (1–12 months) and young children (1–3 years). The specific case numbers are not taken into account, only general remarks are communicated. We found that the structural and functional unit of the kidney is the nephron, which undergoes three initial stages: pro-, meso- and metanephros. There are two periods of accumulation: late fetal and infant age. After birth, the number of incomplete renal corpuscles is negligible. Nephrogenesis occurs from the outside to the inside. By the age of three, the volume of the cortex doubles that of the marrow. In further periods of ontogenesis, the nephron count remains unchanged, only the volume of the nephrons increases. When modelling kidney function, we found that the body is “resting” some of the nephrons, because it is during this time that the cell walls resulting from cavitation are regenerated.