Kidney and urinary tract development: an apoptotic balancing act

Abstract

Development of the mammalian urogenital system requires a balance between survival and programmed cell death. Pro-survival molecules are crucial in preserving metanephric mesenchyme viability, and thus allowing nephrogenesis to proceed. At the same time, localized areas of apoptosis mediated by effector caspases are required for the appropriate morphogenesis of the kidney and urinary tract. Activation of the intrinsic pathway of apoptosis seems to be fundamental to the progression of cell death necessary to aid ureteric bud branching, nephrogenesis, and ureter-bladder connection. Here, we review what is currently known about survival and apoptosis in building functional kidneys and urinary tracts.

Maternal fructose-intake-induced renal programming in adult male offspring

“…The reason for these results is not immediately clear. It is noteworthy that apoptosis plays an active role in nephrogenesis [26] and increased renal apoptosis can still be detected in the 8-week-old offspring in a maternal protein restriction model [27]. Since we observed that p53 pathway is a significantly regulated KEGG pathway in 1-day-old kidney (data not shown), effects of apoptosis on numbers of nephron in adulthood require further investigation.…”

Apoptosis in the kidneys of rats that experienced intrauterine growth restriction

“…Imbalance between proliferation and apoptosis has been widely known to play an important role in a variety of physiological processes, such as embryonic growth, development, proliferation of cells, or in a variety of pathological processes such as autoimmune diseases, tumours, and organ damage . A variety of adverse factors, such as hypoxia and malnutrition, can break the balance between apoptosis and proliferation and cause pathological changes in the kidneys, such as reducing the number of glomeruli . In this study, no significant difference in the proliferation index was observed between IUGR pups and control pups whose mothers were fed a normal diet.…”

“…A dynamic balance between cell proliferation and death has been revealed to be directly associated with the regulation of the renal glomerular number . Apoptosis has been associated with the reduction in renal glomerular number in a rat IUGR model induced by bilateral uterine artery ligation .…”

“…Differences in the kidney between different developmental stages have been revealed to be directly associated with the dynamic changes of apoptosis and proliferation . The dynamic apoptosis plays an important role in regulating the renal glomerular number . Abnormal apoptosis has been observed in lung, jejunum, placenta, and other tissues and organs of IUGR animals .…”

“…7,8 The dynamic apoptosis plays an important role in regulating the renal glomerular number. 9 Abnormal apoptosis has been observed in lung, jejunum, placenta, and other tissues and organs of IUGR animals. [10][11][12] Apoptosis has been found to be associated with a reduction in the renal glomerular number in a rat IUGR model induced by bilateral uterine artery ligation.…”