mesonephros
Sign in to saveThe mesonephros () is one of three excretory organs that develop in vertebrates. It serves as the main excretory organ of aquatic vertebrates and as a temporary kidney in reptiles, birds, and mammals. The mesonephros is also known as the Wolffian body after Caspar Friedrich Wolff who described it in 1759. (The Wolffian body is composed of: mesonephros + paramesonephrotic blastema)
Key facts
- Embryology.Name
- Mesonephros
- Embryology.Latin
- mesonephros
- Embryology.Image
- Gray986.png
- Embryology.Caption
- Reconstruction of a human embryo of 17 mm. (Mesonephros labelled at center right)
- Embryology.Days
- 22
- Embryology.CarnegieStage
- 14
- Embryology.Precursor
- Pronephros
- Embryology.GivesRiseTo
- Kidney
via Wikipedia infobox
Article
10 sectionsContents
- Structure
- Development
- Mesonephric vesicle
- Mesonephric tubules
- Formation
- Function
- Other animals
- Additional images
- See also
- References
The mesonephros () is one of three excretory organs that develop in vertebrates. It serves as the main excretory organ of aquatic vertebrates and as a temporary kidney in reptiles, birds, and mammals. The mesonephros is also known as the Wolffian body after Caspar Friedrich Wolff who described it in 1759. (The Wolffian body is composed of: mesonephros + paramesonephrotic blastema)
==Structure== The mesonephros acts as a structure similar to the kidney that, in humans, functions between the sixth and tenth weeks of embryonic development. Despite the similarity in structure, function, and terminology, however, the mesonephric nephrons do not form any part of the mature kidney or nephrons.