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Molecular and Cellular Pediatrics
Fig. 2 | Molecular and Cellular Pediatrics

Fig. 2

From: Concepts for a therapeutic prolongation of nephrogenesis in preterm and low-birth-weight babies must correspond to structural-functional properties in the nephrogenic zone

Fig. 2

Occurrence of stem cells in a 1-day-old and glutaraldehyde-fixed rabbit kidney shown by a transmission electron microscopy and b schema. a The capsule (C) consists of a tunica fibrosa (T.fib) and muscularis (T.musc). Epithelial (EPI) stem cells are enclosed in the tip of a CD ampulla (A) covered by a basal lamina (cross). An interface (asterisks) separates mesenchymal (MES) from epithelial stem cells. Projections of mesenchymal cells (arrow) cross it to contact a CD ampulla. Both the nephrogenic zone and the capsule can be seen as a niche that is covering the entire organ (A). In contrast, only the tip of a CD ampulla containing epithelial stem cells and some above positioned GDNF+/Six2+/CITED1+ mesenchymal cells are regarded as a single niche (B). b Histochemistry exhibits that in the basal lamina of a CD ampulla tip, laminin ɣ1 and agrin are contained. Further microfibers binding soybean agglutinin (SBA; black line) and anti-collagen type I (black asterisks), type II (light circles), and type III (dotted line) originate here to cross the interface and mesenchymal stem cells for fastening the capsule [10]

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