The elasmobranch renal corpuscle: fine structure of Bowman's capsule and the glomerular capillary wall

The fine structure of the renal corpuscle of the marine elasmobranch fish, the little skate (Raja erinacea), and two species of dogfish sharks, the spiny dogfish (Squalus acanthias) and the smooth dogfish (Mustelus canis), was studied by light microscopy and by transmission (thin sections, freeze-fracture replicas) and scanning electron microscopy. Bowman's capsule was lined by ciliated cells, similar to those of the first part of the tubule, at the urinary pole and squamous cells in the zone between urinary and vascular poles. At the vascular pole the visceral epithelial cells had some closely apposed cuboidal cell bodies with a few processes inserted along the basement membrane, but foot processes were absent. These cuboidal cells were continuous with podocytes, which had primary, secondary and tertiary processes from which the pedicels arose. An inconsistently present slit membrane bridged the pedicels at varying distance from the urinary space. Small maculae and large fasciae occludentes joined the podocytes and/or their processes among which gap junctions were observed. In the skate kidney, the podocyte plasma membrane facing the basement membrane contained orthogonal arrays of particles. The epithelial basement membrane of the glomeruli in all elasmobranchs was consistently thick. The mesangial cells were numerous and partially enveloped in a basement membrane; their long processes almost completely circumscribed the capillary walls. The mesangial matrix was abundant and consisted of loosely arranged collagen fibrils, microfibrils and occasional anchoring fibrils. The endothelial cells had irregularly distributed fenestrations of various sizes and lay on their discontinuous basement membrane which was separate from that under the epithelial cells. The filtration apparatus resembles that of immature mammals and lower vertebrates.