Differentiation and vascularization of the metanephric kidney grafted on the chorioallantoic membrane

The origin and development of mouse kidney vasculature were examined in chorioallantoic grafts of early kidney rudiments and of experimentally induced explants of separated metanephric mesenchymes. Whole kidney rudiments developed into advanced stages, expressed the segment-specific antigenic markers of tubules and the polyanionic coat of the glomeruli. In contrast to development in vitro, these grafts regularly showed glomeruli with an endothelial component and a basement membrane expressing type IV collagen and laminin. The glomerular endothelial cells in these grafts were shown to carry the nuclear structure of the host. This confirms the outside origin of these cells and the true hybrid nature of the glomeruli. When in vitro induced mesenchymes were grafted on chorioallantoic membranes, abundant vascular invasion was regularly found but properly vascularized glomeruli were exceptional. Uninduced, similarly grafted mesenchymal explants remained avascular as did the undifferentiated portions of partially induced mesenchymal blastemas. It is concluded that the stimulation of the host endothelial cells to invade into the differentiating mesenchyme requires the morphogenetic tissue interaction between the ureter bud and the mesenchyme. The induced metanephric cells presumably start to produce chemoattractants for endothelial cells at an early stage of differentiation. Kidney development thus seems to require an orderly, synchronized development of the three cell lineages: the branching ureter, the induced, tubule-forming mesenchyme, and the invading endothelial cells of outside origin.