[Ultrastructural features of ureter-mesenchyme interaction, during nephrogenic induction in Amphibia].

Transmission electron microscopy was used to study the interface between the ureter and the mesonephric blastema. When the blastema is induced in a functional organ, numerous pseudopodial protrusions of the ureter and of the mesonephric cells lead to a close appostion between the two structures. The presence of squamous material, perhaps of a mucopolysaccharidic nature, with a network of collagen fibres is always found on this interface. These particular processes seem to play a role as a morphological basis for the phenomenon of induction. The importance of the extracellular matrix is discussed. Neither the occurrence of zones of close contact, reported by several authors, in other species, nor the fusion of membranes has ever been observed in Amphibia.