#141 - Kidney, pelvis and ureter, H & E

# 220 - Kidney, median sagittal section, H & E

First examine this slide by eye and note the cortical and medullary areas of the unilobar rat kidney. Observe how the apex of the medullary pyramid forms the papilla which is drained by the Y-shaped calyx. Next scan the slide with your low power objective. Begin at the cortical region and observe the connective tissue capsule and proceed through the medulla noting how the collecting ducts contribute to the fan-shaped striations of the medulla. With a higher power objective review the characteristics of these collecting ducts. Further on through the medulla observe how two or more of these collecting ducts unite to form the papillary ducts or ducts of Bellini which empty into the minor calyx at the area cribrosa. The larger collecting ducts and papillary ducts have wide lumens. In the human kidney they are lined with simple columnar epithelium (rat ducts have a flatter epithelium, so you won't see this tall epithelium in the rat kidney).

At the apex of the renal pyramid proceed across the lumen of the minor calyx and identify the type of epithelium that forms the wall of the calyx. The minor calyces drain into the major calyces which then drain into the pelvis, the funnel-shaped expanded part of the ureter, which rests in the renal sinus. Here one can see loose C.T. and adipose tissue, and in some sections, the star-shaped lumen of the ureter.

References:p. 330-331 - Gartner p. 585-591 - Ross