Morphogenesis and histogenesis of the connecting tubule in the rat kidney

Summary

At the start of its morphogenesis the tubule of an S-shaped body always attaches to the terminal ampulla of the collecting duct. It remains attached there for some time while the terminal ampulla sprouts toward the renal capsule. The most distal part of the tubule that rises to the ampulla forms the connecting tubule, morphogenically the oldest segment of the tubulus nephroni. When younger S-shaped bodies join the same terminal ampulla, 2 to 3 connecting tubules are temporarily attached side by side to a single ampulla. Soon, however, the connecting tubule of the older nephron shifts its point of attachment away from the ampulla to the connecting tubule of the younger nephron. This process is repeated through successive nephron generations. Thus an arcade develops which at the close of morphogenesis includes the connecting tubules of the 3 to 4 oldest juxtamedullary and midcortical nephrons of the collecting duct and is always situated close to interlobular veins. The connecting tubules of the 2 youngest subcapsular nephrons are not incorporated into arcades, but join directly and permanently the collecting duct. — At the start of histogenesis, the undifferentiated tubule epithelium of the S-shaped body has a uniform structure over its entire length. At the junction of the connecting tubule and the terminal ampulla there is a cytologically sharp boundary between cuboidal, dark-stained connecting-tubule epithelium of the nephron and cylindrical, light-stained ampullary epithelium of the collecting duct. The epithelial differentiation begins in the oldest, juxtamedullary connecting tubules of an arcade and progresses upward to the terminal ampulla, so that immature connecting-tubule epithelium and immature ampullary epithelium are temporarily interposed between mature connecting-tubule epithelium and mature collecting-duct epithelium. The mature epithelium of the connecting tubule stains light, in which respect it behaves like the epithelium of the distal tubule. However, it also contains individual cells that are more strongly basophilic, stain dark and, though of nephrogenic origin, cannot be distinguished from the dark cells of the collecting duct by light microscopy. — Morphogenically and histogenically, the arcade-forming connecting tubules and the subcapsular connecting tubules arise from the nephrogenic blastema.