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Development of the hypothalamic vasopressin system and nephrons in Meriones shawi during ontogenesis

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Abstract

This study has evaluated the development of the hypothalamic vasopressin system and nephrons of the kidney in desert rodents, Meriones shawi, which effectively retain water by excretion of highly concentrated urine. The vasopressin system was studied immunocyto chemically at the 18th fetal day, at the 2nd, 13th, 27th postnatal days and in adulthood. The kidneys were investigated at the 2nd, 13th postnatal days and in adulthood using microdissection technique. Occasional vasopressin-immunoreactive neurons were observed as early as the 18th fetal day, only in the paraventricular nucleus. From the 2nd postnatal day onwards, vasopressin neurons increased progressively in number, being mainly concentrated in the supraoptic and paraventricular nuclei, as well as in the ventral retrochiasmatic region. Transient neuronal populations were also observed at the 13th postnatal day in the lateral preoptic area and anterior hypothalamic nucleus. Apart from the neurons, the glandular cells of the tuberal lobe showed immunostaining from the 18th fetal day, the first age studied, until the 13th postnatal day. The fibers of differentiating vasopressin neurons grew towards the circumventricular/neurohemal organs, terminating in the organum vasculosum of the lamina terminalis and the lateral ventricles as early as the 18th fetal day, as well as the third ventricle, the posterior lobe and the external zone of the median eminence between the 2nd and 13th postnatal days. The kidney in 2 day-old Meriones comprised nephrons at different stages of development from an S-shaped body to well-differentiated nephrons. At the 13th postnatal day, as in adulthood, the nephrons were well differentiated and characterized by long, thin loops descending to different levels of papilla. Thus, according to our morphological data the hypothalamic vasopressin neurons and nephrons in the kidney of Meriones reach the definitive state by the end of the 2nd postnatal week.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Département de Biologie, Faculté des Sciences, Laboratoire de Physiologie Animale, B.P. 20, El Jadida, Maroc

    Mohammed Rabhi

  2. Laboratory of Hormonal Regulations, Institute of Developmental Biology, Russian Academy of Sciences, 26, Vavilov str., 117808, Moscow, Russia

    Michael V. Ugrumov

  3. Laboratory of Renal Physiology, Institute of Evolutionary Physiology and Biochemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, 44 Thorez Av., 194223 St., Petersburg, Russia

    Olga A. Goncharevskaya & Yurii V. Natochin

  4. Département de Biologie, Faculté des Sciences, Institut des Neurosciences, Rabat, Maroc

    Wail Bengelloun

  5. Département des Signaux Intercellulaires, Institut des Neurosciences, CNRS URA 1488, 7, Quai St Bernard, F-75252, 05, Paris Cedex, France

    Michael V. Ugrumov & André Calas

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  1. Mohammed Rabhi
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  6. Yurii V. Natochin
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Rabhi, M., Ugrumov, M.V., Goncharevskaya, O.A. et al. Development of the hypothalamic vasopressin system and nephrons in Meriones shawi during ontogenesis. Anat Embryol 193, 281–296 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00198331

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