QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s):
Home     Help     Feedback     Subscriptions     Archive     Search     Table of Contents

First published online December 7, 2008

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Related articles in Development Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Wnt7b signalling sets the renal cortico-medullary axis

Mammalian kidneys contain a cortex where blood filtration occurs and a medullary region where elongated tubular epithelia concentrate the urine. This organisation is crucial for renal function, but what regulates the formation of the cortico-medullary axis? One key regulator in the developing mouse kidney, suggest Jing Yu, Andrew McMahon and colleagues, is Wnt7b (see p. 161). In the absence of Wnt7b, they report, cortical epithelial development is normal but the medullary zone fails to form and urine is not concentrated normally. Their analysis of cell division planes in the collecting duct epithelium of the emerging medullary zone in normal and Wnt7b mutant mice reveals that Wnt7b regulation of the cell cleavage plane contributes to the establishment of a cortico-medullary axis. Finally, they show that Wnt7b mediates axis establishment by activating the canonical Wnt signalling pathway in the interstitial mesenchyme. Together, these results indicate that Wnt7b plays a pivotal role in the development of the tissue architecture that is required for normal kidney function.

CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?

Related articles in Development:

A Wnt7b-dependent pathway regulates the orientation of epithelial cell division and establishes the cortico-medullary axis of the mammalian kidney

Jing Yu, Thomas J. Carroll, Jay Rajagopal, Akio Kobayashi, Qun Ren, and Andrew P. McMahon
Development 2009 136: 161-171. [Abstract] [Full Text]  

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Related articles in Development Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?