Kidney Beams

A complex network of tubules develops in our kidneys – plumbing waste chemicals out of the blood while allowing just the right amount of water and nutrients back in. Artificial fluorescent stains decorate this developing mouse kidney’s cells in blue, and cells in its early network of tubes in pink and red. A green stain highlights cells descended from mesenchymal nephron progenitors (MNPs), first found in the cortex (top) of the developing kidney which change or differentiate into the early tubes forming below. How MNPs are guided during development is a little mysterious, so later experiments investigated proteins found inside. One of these, called β-catenin, works in a careful balance to help form kidney tubules while making sure the segments of the kidney, called nephrons, develop as they should – further study may suggest how and when this important protein switches on and off during human development.

Written by John Ankers

John Ankers

Writer

A former researcher in systems biology, John is now an online biology tutor and professional coach supporting the wellbeing of scientists and NHS professionals. He's writing, too, of course.

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• Image from work by Patrick Deacon and and Charles W. Concodora, and colleagues
• Division of Pediatric Urology and Division of Developmental Biology, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, USA
• Image originally published with a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
• Published in Scientific Reports, November 2019