Nephron function and perinatal homeostasis.

A) The proximal nephron and perinatal regulation of extracellular volume. 1. The glomerular capillary permeability coefficient (Kf) changes mainly because of an increasing capillary hydraulic conductance (Lp) within the autoregulatory range of renal perfusion pressure. 2. Proximal tubule hydrostatic hydraulic conductance and response to transmural protein concentration gradients is high during perinatal adaptation. 3. Proximal tubule paracellular shunt pathways are more important for absorption during differentiation than at maturity. 4. Basolateral membrane area of the single epithelial segment (10(-6) micron2 mm-1) increases and the typical basal labyrinth architecture develops. 5. The activity of the transport enzyme Na-K-ATPase increases in parallel to the basolateral membrane area to result in a constant number of enzyme sites during normal ontogeny. B) The distal nephron and perinatal regulation of extracellular osmotic activity. 6. Inner medullary urea content increases at osmotic equilibrium between interstitium and collecting duct. 7. The loop of Henle gradually dilutes the isotonic luminal fluid in the course of perinatal differentiation. 8. The thick ascending segment of the loop of Henle differentiates its anisotonic transport by increasing the Na-Chloride transport at constant hydraulic conductivity. 9. Ultrastructure and N-A-K-ATPase activity of the diluting segment (TAL) change greatly during ontogeny. 10. The centrifugal pattern of renal maturation from the juxtamedullary towards the superficial cortical layers leads to an intracortical profile of structure and function.