Ultrastructural and biochemical observations on the metanephros of normal and cultured chick embryos

Summary A comparative electron microscopical study was conducted on the metanephros from chick embryos differentiated either in shell-less culture or in ovo. Developmental characteristics were very similar in both cases. Up to stage 37 (Hamburger-Hamilton) the metanephros contained large numbers of immature nephrons; their renal corpuscles were crescent-shaped and consisted of an outer layer of flat cells and an inner one of cuboidal cells. In more advanced corpuscles also found at this stage the inner layer had formed numerous rudimentary pedicels and the tunica media of the glomerular arteriole contained juxta-glomerular cells with numerous, small, electron dense granules.In the metanephros from embryos at stage 38 or older, large numbers of nephrons had completed their differentiation; their rounded renal corpuscles had fully differentiated podocytes with thin interdigitating pedicels and the proximal convoluted tubules had numerous apical microvilli, vesicles, vacuoles and tubular invaginations indicating an active process of resorption. These results appear to indicate that both in culture and in ovo-developed embryos, the metanephri start to function around stage 38. In the case of normal embryos this conclusion agrees with previous physiological and biochemical determinations. The injection of 20 USP parathyroid hormone into 16-day old chick embryos produced an increase in the concentration of cyclic AMP in the metanephros. This favours the idea that the regulation of kidney function by the hormone begins during the embryonic period.