My watch list  


Gray's subject #252 1205
Carnegie stage 14
Days 22
Precursor intermediate mesoderm
MeSH Mesonephros
Dorlands/Elsevier m_11/12527308

The mesonephros (Latin for "middle kidney") 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 higher vertebrates. The mesonephros is included in the Wolffian body after Caspar Friedrich Wolff who described it in 1759. (The Wolffian body is composed of : mesonephros + paramesonephrotic blastema)

Additional recommended knowledge



The mesonephros is composed of the mesonephric duct (also called the Wolffian duct), mesonephric tubules, and associated capillary tufts. A single tubule and its associated capillary tuft is called a mesonephric excretory unit; these units are similar in structure and function to nephrons of the adult kidney. The mesonephros is derived from intermediate mesoderm in the vertebrate embryo.

Differences between males and females

In human males, the mesonephros gives rise to the efferent ductules of the testis, the epididymis, vas deferens, seminal vesicle, and vestigial structures such as the appendix testis, appendix epididymis, and paradidymis.

The mesonephros largely regresses in human females, though vestigial structures such as Gartner's cysts, the epoophoron, and paroophoron are common.

Differences among species


Additional images

See also

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Mesonephros". A list of authors is available in Wikipedia.