Role of Claudins in Renal Branching Morphogenesis

Claudins are a family of tight junction proteins that are expressed during mouse kidney development. They regulate paracellular transport of solutes along the nephron and contribute to the final composition of the urinary filtrate. To understand their roles during development, we used a protein reagent, a truncated version of the Clostridium perfringens enterotoxin (C‐CPE), to specifically remove a subset of claudin family members from mouse embryonic kidney explants at embryonic day 12. We observed that treatment with C‐CPE decreased the number and the complexity of ureteric bud tips that formed: there were more single and less bifid ureteric bud tips when compared to control‐treated explants. In addition, C‐CPE‐treated explants exhibited ureteric bud tips with larger lumens when compared to control explants (p < .05). Immunofluorescent analysis revealed decreased expression and localization of Claudin‐3, −4, −6, and −8 to tight junctions of ureteric bud tips following treatment with C‐CPE. Interestingly, Claudin‐7 showed higher expression in the basolateral membrane of the ureteric bud lineage and poor localization to the tight junctions of the ureteric bud lineage both in controls and in C‐CPE‐treated explants. Taken together, it appears that claudin proteins may play a role in ureteric bud branching morphogenesis through changes in lumen formation that may affect the efficiency by which ureteric buds emerge and branch.