Includes References and Index

The field of development of the human kidney is a complex and in part
unknown process which requires interactions between pluripotential/stem
cells, undifferentiated mesenchymal cells of the metanephros, epithelial and
mesenchymal components, eventually leading to the coordinate development
of multiple differentiated epithelial, vascular, and stromal cell types within
the complex renal architecture.
In the last few years, the “old” embryology of mammalian kidney has been
revisited and reinterpreted with new eyes, in the light of immunohistochemistry
and molecular biology. Important stages in the progress of research are represented by the following passages: determining how the tree of the ureteric bud
is formed; understanding the intimate reciprocal interactions between the two
precursor tissues, the metanephric mesenchyme, and the ureteric bud; identifying the causes leading to kidney hypodysplasia; clarifying the factors influencing the end of nephrogenesis before birth; understanding and controlling the
mediators which stimulate or inhibit kidney development and orient it either in
the direction of normal or abnormal development.
Studies on perinatal programming are expanding the temporal horizon of
precocious reduction in the number of nephrons at birth, which may have
long-term effects on the renal function in adulthood.
This textbook will provide a comprehensive, state-of-the art review in the
field of experimental and human nephrogenesis, and should serve as a valuable tool for pediatricians, neonatologists, nephrologists, gynecologists,
pathologists, and researchers with an interest in kidney diseases.
The book will review new data on the effects on kidney development by
neonatal asphyxia, obstructive uropathies, nephrotoxic drugs administered to
the mother and/or to the neonate, malnutrition, underfeeding, overfeeding,
and will provide all possible preventive measures to ensure the well-being of
the kidney at birth, in order to assure health when the children reach adulthood and through the entire life cycle.
In this book, the authors will focus on the multiple cell types involved in
nephrogenesis, which move from the mesenchymal toward the epithelial
world and back, and will define the multiple factors that propel these cell
types to differentiate during kidney development, rendering the notions of
“mesenchymal” and “epithelial” identity more fluid than expected. Finally, the possible implications between renal development and the
insurgence of kidney disease in adult life, and the correlation with renal carcinogenesis will be discussed.
This textbook will provide a concise and comprehensive summary of the
current status of the field of human nephrogenesis, and on the clinical consequences in adulthood of a block of nephron development in the perinatal period