Renal morphology of freshwater trout

The nephron of the euryhaline freshwater salmonids is composed of the renal corpuscle and the renal tubules. Throughout much of the renal corpuscle, only the lamina densa separates the fenestrated processes of the endothelial cells from the foot processes of the visceral epithelium. The renal tubule consists of five distinct segments. The neck segment is short and intermittently ciliated; it lacks the mucous cells which appear in the neck segment of some teleosts. The proximal segment bears a dense bruch border and is both structurally and functionally divisible into a first and a second segment. The first portion is typified by the presence of short apical tubules, variously sized apical vacuoles, and numerous lysosomes. The second proximal segment is distinguished by the abundance and distribution of mitochondria throughout the cytoplasm. Infoldings of the basilar plasmalemma are especially prominent in this region. A cilated intermidate segment intervenes briefly between the proximal and distal portions of the tubule. The distal segment consists of cuboidal cells which bear scattered, short microvilli, small vesicles and multivesicular bodies. Renal tissue from several species of trout was examined in order to establish the basis for a common pattern of histological and ultrastructural characteristics within the family Salmonidae. In all species examined, renal structure was very similar and could readily be compared with that previously described in other freshwater and marine species.