Urinary System

Kidney, Monkey

Examine your section with the naked eye. Can you demarcate the approximate boundary between the cortex and the medulla? Under low magnification, identify the medullary rays running towards the capsule of the organ. A variable number of renal corpuscles are present in the cortex. Examine one of the corpuscles showing its vascular poleand macula densa. The latter consists of closely packed columnar or cuboidal cells of the distal convoluted tubule. Can you recognize the extraglomerular mesangial cells? In the glomerulus are nuclei of the endothelial cells lining the capillaries and of podocytes. Identify the afferent or efferent arteriole, Bowman's space and the parietal layer of Bowman's capsule. Between the renal corpuscles are various profiles of proximal convoluted tubules and distal convoluted tubules. Move your field now to the corticomedullary junction. Locate the arcuate arteries(cut transversely). Interlobular arteries(cut longitudinally) are seen in the cortex. In the medulla, identify the collecting tubules and the loops of Henle.

Examine your section once again with the naked eye. Note that a prominent renal papilla of the medullary(renal) pyramid projects into the minor calyx. What is the lining epithelium of the medullary(renal) papilla and the minor calyx?