Ultrastructure of the kidney of the marine teleost Sparus auratus: the renal corpuscle and the tubular nephron.

The ultrastructure of the renal corpuscle and tubule of Sparus auratus is described. The parietal epithelium in Bowman's capsule is flattened with occasional cilia; podocytes are large with bundles of perinuclear microfilaments, a large vacuole and occasional cilia; a filtration slit membrane can sometimes be identified; mesangial cells are placed peripherally and among the walls of the capillaries. The neck segment is short and ciliated; it lacks the mucous cells which appear in some teleosts. The first proximal segment has columnar cells with a well developed brush border, and some cilia, large light vacuoles and many lysosomes appear in the apical zone; the second proximal segment has taller cells than the former, which appear with a less dense brush border, containing numerous multivesicular bodies; the third proximal segment, which has cells similar to the previous ones, possesses a less developed brush border and numerous mitochondria scattered all over the cytoplasm. No distal tubule is present. There is a collecting tubule with columnar cells with few microvilli and some apical mucin granules which empty into the collecting duct.