Postnatal development of the canine kidney: quantitative and qualitative morphology.

The normal postnatal development of the canine kidney was investigated utilizing qualitative and quantitative histologic methods. Kidneys were examined at 2, 4, 8, 14, 22, 70, and 200 days of age. A subcapsular nephrogenic zone was present in the kidneys until approximately eight days of age. This zone contained tissues which interacted to produce new nephrons and interstitial tissues. Several developmental stages of forming nephrons were identified in this zone. Beneath the nephrogenic zone, renal corpuscles of increasing maturity were located at successively deeper cortical levels. The total number of nephrons was estimated to be 445,000 per kidney. This number did not vary significantly during growth. The corpuscular volume per nephron increased 249% from 14 to 200 days of age. During the same period there was a 303% increase in the tubular volume per nephron. Although the developing kidney differed anatomically from the adult kidney, the individual nephrons maintained volumetric corpuscular-tubular balance during growth.