INFLUENCE OF PREGNANCY ON THE RENAL CORTEX OF MICE AS INDICATED BY THE STRUCTURE OF BOWMAN'S CAPSULE1

Abstract

In a series of young [female] mice of the same age but in different stages of pregnancy or the puerperium, an increase in the % of cuboidal cell capsules of the renal cortex occurred during the 1st half of pregnancy. The maximum value was reached at the end of the 1st trimester and the beginning of the 2d. It then decreased to normal by the 18th day of a 21-day gestation period. There was no significant alteration observed in the % of cuboidal cell capsules during the puerperium. The androgenic zone of the adrenal gland degenerated abruptly at about the 10th day of pregnancy when the percentage of cuboidal cell capsules was at the maximum. The similarity between pregnancy changes in human beings and in lower mammals has been demonstrated by a number of investigators. An effect of pregnancy on the renal cortex of the human analogous to the change just demonstrated in mice might be expected to occur, but this change is probably not manifested in the same way.