The Development of Urinary System

Introduction

 Urinary system eliminate wastes from the body, regulate blood volume and blood pressure,
control levels of electrolytes and metabolites, and regulate blood pH.

 It is consists of the kidneys, ureters, urinary bladder, and urethra.

 It comes from intermediate mesoderm.

 By day 22 intermediate mesoderm isidentified at lateral to the paraxial mesoderm

THE KIDNEY

The kidneys are paired organs located retroperitoneally. Their vascular supply comes from the renal
arteries, and they drain into the renal veins. Each kidney excretes into a ureter, which will in turn
empty into the urinary bladder. Its functional unit is the nephron.

During the development of the kidney, there are 3 main structures initially, which derive from
intermediate mesoderm. These structures are pronephros, mesonephros and metanephros.

Pronephros

 Is the first kidney.

 It develops during the 4th week of uterine life in the cervical region of the intermediate
mesoderm.

 It contains lots of segmental vesicles and has the pronephric duct that grows caudally toward the
cloaca.

 The pronephric duct is in the embryo and thus cannot filter materials outside the embryo.
Therefore it is said that the pronephro kidney is nonfunctional in humans thus it degenerates.
Mesonephros

 Develops caudally (inferiorly) to the pronephros.

 First, the presence of the pronephric duct induces nearby intermediate mesoderm in the
thoracolumbar region to form mesonephric tubules. These tubules receive a tuft of capillaries
from the aorta – allowing for the filtration of blood – and they drain into the mesonephric duct
(a continuation of the pronephric duct). They act as a primitive excretory system in the embryo,
with most tubules regressing by the end of the 2nd month.

 Additionally, the mesonephric duct sprouts the ureteric bud caudally, which induces the
development of the definitive kidney.

Metanephros

 Forms the definitive kidney, and appears in the 5th week of development.

 It becomes functional around the 12th week. The ureteric bud from the mesonephric duct
makes contact with a caudal region of intermediate mesoderm – the metanephric blastema.
Collectively, they form the metanephric system, which has two components:

A.) Collecting System- derived from the ureteric bud. It dilates to create the ureter, renal pyramid,
major and minor calyces and collecting tubules.

B.) Excretory system - derived from the metanephric blastema. Each collecting tubule from the
collecting system is covered by a metanephric tissue cap which gives rise to the excretory tubules. The
proximal end of the excretory tubule forms the Bowman’s capsule around a glomerulus, creating the
nephron. The excretory tubule elongates to form the proximal convoluted tubule, loop of Henle and
distal convoluted tubule.

The Ureter

At the fifth week of development, the ureteric bud arises as a diverticulum from the mesonephric
(Wolfian) duct. The bud grows laterally and invades the center of the metanephrogenic blastema, the
primordial renal tissue. The meeting of these two tissues causes changes in the bud and the
metanephros. The metanephrogenic blastema forms glomeruli, proximal tubules and distal tubules. The
ureteric bud divides and branches forming the renal pelvis, infundibulae, calyces, and collecting
tubules which will provide a conduit for urine drainage in the mature kidney. This process is known as
the induction of the kidney.
From 28 to 35 days of development, the ureter is patent, probably as a result of the mesonephros
producing urine which fills the tube. From 37 to 40 days of development the ureter loses its lumen. At
40 days of development the ureter regains a lumen. Starting at the midpoint and progressing in both
directions toward the developing kidney and the urogenital sinus, the lumen of the ureter reforms. The
last segments of the ureter to gain a lumen are at either end (kidney or urogenital sinus).

As development of the bladder progresses the mesonephric duct and the attached ureter are
incorporated into the base of the bladder and the proximal urethra. In males, the mesonephric duct
drains into the prostatic urethra as the ejaculatory duct. In females, the mesonephric duct regresses and
the ureter alone remains. As the mesonephric duct and ureter are absorbed into the base of the bladder,
they rotate so that the ureter meets the bladder cephalad to the point at which the mesonephric duct
meets the urethra.

At the point where the ureter joins the urogenital sinus, a thin membrane (Chawalla's membrane)
develops which separates the two lumens. This membrane then ruptures allowing passage of fetal urine
into the urogenital sinus. At nine weeks of development the metanephros, which will become the
mature kidney, starts to produce urine. As this fetal urine drains into the kidney, patency of the ureter is
maintained. Smooth muscle develops in the ureteric wall. Later, this muscle will generate and
propagate peristaltic contractions to conduct urine from the kidney to the bladder.
 The bladder develops mainly from the vesical part of the urogenital sinus. The entire epithelium
of the bladder is derived from the endoderm of the vesical part of the urogenital sinus, or
ventral part of the cloaca.

 The other layers of its wall develop from the adjacent splanchnic mesenchyme. Initially, the
bladder is continuous with the allantois, a fetal membrane developed from the hindgut.

 The allantois soon constricts and becomes a thick fibrous cord, the urachus. It extends from the
apex of the bladder to the umbilicus. In adults, the urachus is represented by the median
umbilical ligament. As the bladder enlarges, distal parts of the mesonephricducts are
incorporated into its dorsal wall

 These ducts contribute to the formation of the connective tissue in the trigone of the bladder. As
these ducts are absorbed, the ureters open separately into the urinary bladder. Partly because of
traction exerted by the kidneys as they ascend, the orifices of the ureters move superolaterally
and enter obliquely through the base of the bladder.

The Urethra

 The epithelium of most of the male urethra

and the entire female urethra is derived from
endoderm of the urogenital sinus.

 The distal part of the urethra in the glans penis

is derived from a solid cord of ectodermal cells,
which grows inward from the tip of the glans
penis and joins the rest of the spongy urethra.
consequently, the epithelium of the terminal part of the urethra is derived from surface ectoderm.
the connective tissue and smooth muscle of the urethra in both sexes are derived from splanchnic
mesenchyme.