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Updated: Apr 17, 2026
In Situ Hybridization in Zebrafish Larvae and Juveniles during Mesonephros Development
Published on: August 13, 2021
Development of the zebrafish mesonephros
Cuong Q Diep1, Zhenzhen Peng, Tobechukwu K Ukah
1Department of Medicine, Center for Regenerative Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts; Department of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts; Kidney Program, Harvard Stem Cell Institute, Cambridge, Massachusetts; Department of Biology, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Indiana, Pennsylvania.
Abstract:
The vertebrate kidney plays an essential role in removing metabolic waste and balancing water and salt. This is carried out by nephrons, which comprise a blood filter attached to an epithelial tubule with proximal and distal segments. In zebrafish, two nephrons are first formed as part of the embryonic kidney (pronephros) and hundreds are formed later to make up the adult kidney (mesonephros). Previous studies have focused on the development of the pronephros while considerably less is known about how the mesonephros is formed. Here, we characterize mesonephros development in zebrafish and examine the nephrons that form during larval metamorphosis. These nephrons, arising from proliferating progenitor cells that express the renal transcription factor genes wt1b, pax2a, and lhx1a, form on top of the pronephric tubules and develop a segmentation pattern similar to pronephric nephrons. We find that the pronephros acts as a scaffold for the mesonephros, where new nephrons fuse with the distal segments of the pronephric tubules to form the final branching network that characterizes the adult zebrafish kidney.
