Development of the urinary system
mechanisms that form the urinary system
The development of the urinary system begins during prenatal development, and relates to the development of the urogenital system – both the organs of the urinary system and the sex organs of the reproductive system. The development continues as a part of sexual differentiation.
The urinary and reproductive organs are developed from the intermediate mesoderm. The permanent organs of the adult are preceded by a set of structures which are purely embryonic, and which with the exception of the ducts disappear almost entirely before birth. These embryonic structures are on either side; the pronephros, the mesonephros and the metanephros of the kidney, and the Wolffian and Müllerian ducts of the sex organ. The pronephros disappears very early; the structural elements of the mesonephros mostly degenerate, but the gonad is developed in their place, with which the Wolffian duct remains as the duct in males, and the Müllerian as that of the female. Some of the tubules of the mesonephros form part of the permanent kidney.
Pronephros and Wolffian duct
Wolffian duct
In the outer part of the intermediate mesoderm, immediately under the ectoderm, in the region from the fifth cervical segment to the third thoracic segment, a series of short evaginations from each segment grows dorsally and extends caudally, fusing successively from before backward to form the pronephric duct. This continues to grow caudally until it opens into the ventral part of the cloaca; beyond the pronephros it is termed the Wolffian duct. Thus, the Wolffian duct is what remains of the pronephric duct after the atrophy of the pronephros.
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