The Nephrogenesis in the Human Organism

Abstract

We wanted to investigate nephrogenesis in its ontogenetic development (in the perinatal periods). 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). 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. 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. In further periods of ontogenesis, the nephron count remains unchanged, only the volume of the nephrons increases. When modeling 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