Morphological development and fate of the mouse mesonephros.

A study has been made of the development of mesonephric tubules in the mouse to investigate the possible transdifferentiation of tubule epithelial cell to gonadal somatic cells and/or adrenal cortical cells. Immunohistochemical localisation of laminin was carried out to study the development of basal laminae. Cells at the ventral aspect of mesonephric tubules did not show an epithelial phenotype during the period of somatic cell population of the gonadal blastema; a basal lamina appeared ventrally only after this period. Therefore, it is not necessary to postulate transdifferentiation of these cells.