Development of the Kidney in Mouse and Human
Provided by Andrew McMahon, University of Southern California
October 2017 (GUDMAP)
On this page:
- Nephrons
- Dynamic events in nephrogenesis
- Mouse versus the human kidney
- Modeling human kidney development
Nephrons
The functional unit of the kidney is the nephron. Molecular, cellular and genetic studies (reviewed in McMahon 2016) have provided important insights into how nephron progenitors within the cap mesenchyme of the mouse kidney enter a nephron forming pathway, and subsequent steps in the morphogenesis and patterning of nephron precursors to generate mature nephron structures.
Dynamic events in nephrogenesis
Kidney development is dynamic. Normal development requires the coordination of interactions among multiple cell types over an extensive developmental period for the formation, organization and function of the kidney. How can we obtain a dynamic view of developmental processes that normally take place with the fetus? Kidney organ cultures with genetically marked strains of mice - as in the video below - open the door to understanding developmental events in space and time.
Mouse versus the human kidney
In human kidney development, there are distinct differences in the timing, output and overall structure that is formed compared to the mouse kidney. What underlies the species specific differences and how can we develop a much improved understanding of how our own kidney’s form?
Modeling human kidney development
Through a molecular and cellular analysis of nephron formation in the developing human kidney (left panel), we can build models of nephron-forming processes (middle panel). These will inform efforts to generate dynamic developmental models of human kidney formation from pluripotent stem cells (PSC; right panel: PSC-derived human kidney organoid)
