Ultrastructure of the kidney of the marine teleost Sparus auratus: the renal corpuscle and the tubular nephron.

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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.