Growing kidney in the frog.

An understanding of the regulation of kidney development has increased dramatically in the past decade. The pronephros, mesonephros, and metanephros represent three distinct renal organs that function, in succession, as the vertebrate excretory system during development of the kidney. These three organ systems are derived from the intermediate mesoderm and develop in a well-defined temporal and spatial sequence. The pronephros, which consists of a tubule, duct and glomus, is established first and is the simplest of the excretory organs in vertebrates. Xenopus pronephros serves as an ideal model for investigating organogenesis and development of renal function in vertebrates. In this article, we highlight the advantages of Xenopus for analyzing kidney organogenesis and the latest research in pronephros development. Copyright 2006 S. Karger AG, Basel