Relevance of extracellular matrix, its receptors and cell adhesion
molecules in mammalian nephrogenesis.
Wallner, Elisabeth I., Qiwei Yang, Darryl R. Peterson, Jun Wada, and
Yashpal S. Kanwar.
Departments of Pathology* and Medicine, Northwestern University
Medical School, Chicago, Illinois 60611
APStracts 5:0102F, 1998.
Mammalian nephrogenesis begins by the reciprocal interaction of the
ureteric bud with the undifferentiated mesenchyme. The mesenchyme
differentiates into an epithelial phenotype with the development of
the glomerulus, and proximal and distal tubules. At the same time,
the mesenchyme stimulates the branching morphogenesis of the ureteric
bud that differentiates into the collecting ducts. These inductive
interactions and differentiation events are modulated by a number of
macromolecules, including the extracellular matrix, integrin
receptors, and cell adhesion molecules. Many of these macromolecules
exhibit spatio-temporal developmental regulation in the metanephros.
Some are expressed in the mesenchyme, while others appear in the
ureteric bud epithelia. The molecules expressed in the mesenchyme or
at the epithelial:mesenchymal interface may serve as ligands while
those in the epithelia as the receptors. In such a scenario the
ligand and the receptor would be ideally suited for
epithelial:mesenchymal paracrine/juxtacrine interactions that are
also influenced by RGD sequences and Ca++ binding domains of the
extracellular matrix proteins and their receptors. This review
addresses the role of such interactions in metanephric development.
Received 21 May 1998; accepted in final form 22 May 1998.
APS Manuscript Number F127-8.
Article publication pending Am. J. Physiol. (Renal Physiology).
ISSN 1080-4757 Copyright 1998 The American Physiological Society.
Published in APStracts on 16 June 1998