Intracortical distribution of number and volume of glomeruli during postnatal maturation in the dog.

Morphometric analysis was carried out on kidneys of neonatal dogs in which function of the entire kidney and of single nephrons had been evaluated. Measurements were begun after neogenesis of nephrons had been completed, i.e., at the end of the 3rd postnatal wk. They were continued to 74 days by which time glomerular function, expressed per unit of renal weight, had reached the mature level. For statistical analysis, the cortical histogram at each age was divided into eight zones of equal depth between the capsule and corticomedullary junction. The mean total number of glomeruli in this beagle strain was 589 x 10(3) per kidney. The fraction of the total number of glomeruli was lowest in the subcapsular layer (3.9%) and highest (24.5%) in the zone immediately beneath from where it decreased almost linearly to a value of 4.5% in the juxtamedullary region. This numerical distribution did not change with age, which suggests that growth of nonglomerular structures proceeded at the same rate in all cortical layers. Volume of the glomerular tuft rose slightly between the subcapsular and next layer and remained constant down to the juxtamedullary region where it increased sharply. The juxtamedullary glomerulus was about 45% larger in volume than the other glomeruli. This intracortical distribution of glomerular volume did not vary between 23 and 74 days, although the volume of an individual glomerulus at each level increased slightly with age. Total glomerular volume increased by 33% during the postnatal period studied, whereas simultaneously nonglomerular cortical volume rose by 235%. On the assumption that nonglomerular tissue consists mainly of tubules, the data suggest that the rate of tubular growth far exceeded that of glomerular growth. Despite this difference in glomerular and tubular growth rates, analysis of single nephrons in these dogs demonstrates constant and mature proximal fractional reabsorption of sodium and water.