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The Urinary System

(To Pee or not to Pee)
The principle organs of the urinary system are the kidney, the ureters, the urinary bladder and the urethra. In this exercise, we will examine these macroscopic structures as well as selective tissues. The Kidney, General Position (Martini, pages 704-05). The kidney resembles a large bean and rests as a pair of retroperitoneal organs, found in the dorsum of the abdominal cavity. The kidneys lay laterally to the vertebral column, between the floating ribs and L3; the adrenal glands rest on the superior surface of the kidney. Renal arteries and veins converge in the kidney at the hilum; the medial region on each kidney that resembles the hilum of a bean. The ureter that drains the kidneys also exits the kidney at the hilum. Both renal veins drain into the inferior vena cava; the left renal vein crosses the abdominal aorta in the process, just under the superior mesenteric artery. This makes the latter easy to find. Adipose tissue surrounds the kidneys providing packing material, protecting against mechanical shock, and possibly extra heat to keep the kidneys enzymes on their toes. (Enzymes are more active when warmed; arent we all). The Kidney, Inside and Out (Martini, pages 706-07) The kidney is covered by a connective tissue called the renal capsule of connective tissue. In a frontal section, the kidney resembles a split bean. Perhaps the most obvious feature of the sectioned kidney is the intermediate masses that rest in its interior. These masses are the renal pyramids. The function of the pyramids will be discussed soon, but for now we can use them as a landmark for the other kidney regions. The pyramids are considered to be the renal medulla (the middle of the kidney). To the exterior of the pyramids rests the peripheral renal cortex; to the interior of the pyramids lies the renal pelvis and its calyxes. Technically, the tissue between the pyramids is part of the renal cortex. These strips of cortical tissue between the renal pyramids are called the renal columns. They provide a passage for arteries and veins (the complete vascular system will be described shortly). The pyramids terminate in depressions called the minor calyxes. Two or more minor calyxes form a major calyx and there are usually two or three major calyxes per kidney. The major calyxes join to form the renal pelvis, which in turn forms the long tube of the ureter. We will soon examine the structures described above more carefully microscopically, but first let us examine the vasculature of the kidney. Vasculature of the Kidney The first thing to note about the kidneys vasculature is that the major arteries and veins are named the same, but there are fewer veins than arteries.

2 There are six arteries in the kidney, but only four veins. This is a bit tricky because the arteries and veins course with each other. The bottom line is that some branches of the veins dont have names. I dont understand why, but lets not get too hung up about it. Lets start with the arteries first. Renal arteries branch from the abdominal aorta as described above. When they enter the kidney from the renal artery, they quickly branch into segmental arteries, which enter the kidney via openings in the renal pelvis called renal sinuses. These arteries branch and the branches, called lobar arteries, pass through the renal pelvis and calyxes. Lobar arteries branch into interlobar (between lobes) arteries as they pass through the renal columns. A lobe in the kidney is a mass of cortical tissue associated with the edge of the renal pyramid, but dont fret about that too much. Theres a point of no return we could rapidly reach when it comes to partitioning the kidney. I think the vasculature does that well enough for us and so well pass on the less critical terms. Beyond the pyramids, the arteries loop into arches that surround the lateral edges of the pyramids. These are the arcuate (arches) arteries. The arcuate arteries have small branches that project from them forming the interlobular (between small lobes, or lobules) arteries which will eventually form the microscopic afferent arterioles. Afferent arterioles take us to the nephron, the structural and functional unit of the kidney. We will deal with the nephron and its vasculature shortly, but lets bypass it for now and begin our return with the veins. As you might have guessed, the first veins are interlobular veins which drain into arch-shaped arcuate veins. Arcuate veins drain into the veins that course through the renal columns, the interlobar veins. The interlobar veins drain into the renal vein as they course through the pelvis and calyxes. These last regions of the interlobar veins are akin to the segmental arteries, but they are not called segmental veins. Again, I am not sure why. The interlobar veins exit the kidney via the renal sinuses and drain into the renal vein itself, which drains into the inferior vena cava. Heres a little device to help remember the order of the vasculature of the kidney: For the arteries: Real Students Love Interesting Anatomy Instructors. For the veins, Is Anatomy Important? Really! You may find it more helpful to make up your own sentences. Do so with my blessing! Into the Nephron (Gartner & Hiatt pp. 325-331) Now let us examine the kidney under the microscope. Before you place the slide under low power, hold it up to the light so that you can get a general feel for the structure. The rat kidney is quite small, but we can see the complete kidney, which makes it nice. A frontal section of the whole kidney easily fits on a slide. Note the bean of the kidney. You should be able to tell the cortical and medullary regions from the pelvis and calyxes. Note the cap on the bean, the adrenal gland. Within the cap of the adrenal gland, find the light colored tissue. This tissue is the adrenal medulla. The surrounding dark tissue is the adrenal cortex.

3 Place the kidney slide under low power. You should try to examine the edge of the kidney first. Note the renal capsule, composed of dense irregular connective tissue (Gartner & Hiatt p. 325, figures 1 & 2). As you work your way into the cortex, you find tubes composed mostly of simple cuboidal epithelial tissue. We will discuss these tubules soon. Now look for little yarn balls. These are the glomeruli (singular is glomerulus). The term glomerulus means yarn ball. Hey! How about that! Notice that the glomeruli are surrounded by little sacs of simple squamous epithelium. These sacs are the glomerular capsules, also called Bowmans capsules. The glomerulus itself is composed of thin- walled fenestrated capillaries that are made of simple squamous epithelium. In addition, specialized cells called podocytes rest on top of the simple squamous cells, but they can only really be seen with an electron microscope (Gartner & Hiatt p.328). Each podocyte has fern-like extensions called pedicles which also act like sieves. Essentially, blood is filtered in the glomerulus. Blood cells are too large to leak out into the glomerular capsule, but the liquid portion of plasma, known as filtrate, does. Proteins typically do not leak out either because they are repelled by the charges of the podocytes. Since proteins are negatively charged and podocytes have negatively charged basement membranes, proteins tend to stay in the capillaries of the glomerulus, while water, ions, nutrients, hormones and waste are filtered out. How does blood get to the glomerulus? From the interlobular arteries branch afferent arterioles which terminate at the glomerulus. Blood leaves the glomerulus from efferent arterioles. Note that the afferent and efferent arterioles are both found on the same end of the glomerulus, the vascular pole (Gartner & Hiatt p. 323). The efferent arterioles form the peritubular capillaries that course along the kidney tubules. The peritubular capillaries are a means of returning things we want to keep (nutrients, most ions, and water) back to the blood stream. Na+, for example, is exported from the cells of the kidney tubules into the interstitial fluid. Water follows Na+ to form interstitial fluid. The Na+ and water and other dissolved substances of the interstitial fluid is returned to the blood stream largely by waters attraction to albumin. In other words, water flows following an osmotic gradient, and nutrients and returned to the blood in the bargain. Of course, this physiology is more complex, but I will leave it for your physiology instructor to explain to you. After all, this is an anatomy class. Still, I hope you get the general idea. Now lets look at the different tubules of the kidney. Kidney Tubules The glomerular capsule joins the first kidney tubule, the proximal convoluted tubule, at the urinary pole (Gartner & Hiatt p. 323). The majority of nutrients, water and ions are reabsorbed here. The proximal convoluted tubule is composed of fat epithelial cells. At 40x it might be possible to see their microvilli. These give the interior of the proximal convoluted tubule a fuzzy appearance. Microvilli are the principle distinguishing feature of the proximal convoluted tubule (Gartner & Hiatt p. 327).

4 To see the next part of the tube it is necessary to travel from the renal cortex to the renal medulla. No glomeruli are found in the renal medulla, so the absence of glomeruli is a pretty good indicator as to where you are. Within the renal medulla lies the loop of Henle. We probably cannot make the distinction between the various tubes in the rat kidney; the tissues are too similar. However, if you find tubes made of simple squamous epithelium, you no doubt have a part of a loop of Henle. A good illustration of the distinguishing features is in Gartner & Hiatt, page 322. Human tissue, which is often different from the rat, can be seen on pages 325 and 327. Now back to the nephron. The portion of the loop that travels downward toward the minor calyxes is the descending limb of the loop of Henle; the portion that travels back up toward the cortex is the ascending limb of the loop of Henle (Gartner & Hiatt p. 322). The descending limb consists of cuboidal epithelial cells changing to simple squamous epithelium. The tissue turns from thick to thin as we travel deep, and the thin tissue forms the actual loop. Following the loop of Henle are branches of the peritubular capillaries described earlier. The capillaries that follow the loop of Henle in the longest loops of Henle is called the vasa recta. The vasa recta absorbs water that leaves the descending limb of the loop of Henle. Oddly enough, water leaves the descending limb but NaCl does not. Water leaves because the surrounding interstitial fluid of the medulla is salty. The vasa recta has blood that is equally salty, but contains albumin. The salt concentrations never are out of balance, so the delivery of salt to the vasa recta is done by simple diffusion. Water enters the vasa recta to dilute the albumin of the plasma. Recall that albumin is not found in the interstitial fluid. Thus, the vasa recta absorbs extra water as well as salt. Where does the salt come from? The ascending limb loses salt via active transport, but not water. This salt makes the interstitial fluid of the renal medulla surrounding the loop of Henle salty. The loss of water and salt on opposite limbs form what is called the counter-current multiplier system. Think of the descending limb as a leaky straw and the ascending limb as a structurally sound straw. Water comes out going down, but water stays in going up. Salt behaves in the opposite manner. Salt stays in going down, but comes out going up. With an electron microscope it is possible to determine that the thick cells of the loop of Henle have numerous mitochondria because salt leaves via active transport. Now lets return to the renal cortex. Find the glomeruli once again. The next tube we will examine is the distal convoluted tubule that has the job of reabsorbing Na+ if the hormone aldosterone is present. Na+ will help increase blood volume and therefore blood pressure. The job of this tubule then is to help indirectly regulate blood pressure. A typical distal convoluted tubule is less well stained than the proximal convoluted tubule. No microvilli are found within the cuboidal cells that form its lumen (Gartner & Hiatt p. 327). We can also distinguish some special cells found within and next to the distal convoluted tubule. The cells within the distal convoluted tubule that can be found by the vascular

5 pole of the glomerulus are called the macula densa. This little gland can be distinguished by the linearity and closeness of the epithelial cells that form it (Gartner & Hiatt p. 327). The macula densas job is to restrict the flow of blood in the afferent arteriole, thus regulating the rate of glomerular filtration. The slower the flow, the greater the filtration. Another set of cells that have a similar appearance rest within the afferent arteriole. These cells are smooth muscle, not epithelium and they form the juxtaglomerular apparatus (meaning the thing next to the glomerulus). These smooth muscle and companion cells generate the hormone renin that is used to activate the angiotensin system that in turn regulates blood pressure by causing vasoconstriction (Gartner & Hiatt p. 327). The final tubule of the nephron is the collecting duct, best seen back in the renal medulla. Say goodbye to glomeruli! The collecting duct passes through the salty renal medulla and will give up water through specialized pores if we are dehydrated. If on the other hand we have an excess of interstitial fluid, the collecting duct will allow all of our urine to pass. This is our last chance to conserve water, but not our only chance as described above. We would potentially urinate 45 gallons of water per day if it were not to the excellent water recovery systems of the nephron. Anti-diuretic hormone promotes the retrieval of water via specilialized pores that open in its presence in the collecting duct. Once again, the glands call the shots. Now for the histology of the collecting ducts. The cuboidal epithelium of the collecting ducts are thicker than the thickest regions of the loop of Henle but the two are difficult to distinguish form one another. The majority of the tubules you see in the renal medulla are collecting ducts, but I will not ask you distinguish one from the other. Merry Christmas! Of course, once the filtered plasma has passed through the collecting duct it is full-fledged urine. Unlike feces, urine is sterile. At least initially, it contains no bacteria. People have saved themselves from dying of thirst by drinking their urine. I hope youre never in this predicament, but its a good thing to remember should the occasion arise. The Rest of the Story Lets see what happens next. Urine will flow from the collecting ducts to a central papillary duct (a little larger, central collecting duct; Gartner & Hiatt p. 331, figure 3) that drains into minor calyx. The minor calyxes send combine their urine in the major calyxes which send urine to the renal pelvis, which send it to the ureters. The renal pelvis and ureters are composed of several tissue layers, the innermost mucosa being transitional epithelium. There is a thin lamina propria consisting largely of elastic connective tissue. A muscularis layer of smooth muscle follows, which is the reverse of the alimentary canal: longitudinal muscle is internal; circular muscle is external. An adventitia makes the outer covering.

6 one urethra because there are two es in ureter and only one e in urethra. Needless to say, the male urethra is more complex than the female urethra. The male urethra leaves the bladder and enters the prostate gland to become the prostatic urethra. It leaves the prostate and passes through the body wall to become the membranous urethra, and then it passes into the penis to form the penile urethra. Midway, the tissue of the male urethra changes from transitional to pseudostratified columnar (unciliated) and then to stratified squamous. The female urethra has only the membranous urethra, although similar tissue changes occur. Well see this again in reproduction. Until then, happy urine trails!

The Ureters Examine the ureter slide to see these layers up close and personal (Gartner & Hiatt p. 333, figures 1 & 2). Each ureter drains into the base of the urinary bladder. The bladder has the same basic tissue plan as the ureter, but there is more smooth muscle (called the detrusor muscle). The Urinary Bladder Examine the urinary bladder slide, note the mucosa of transitional epithelium, the lamina propria, and the smooth muscle. The adventitia may be absent due to slide preparation flaws (Gartner & Hiatt p. 333, figures 3 & 4). Let me remind you that transitional epithelium can go from a columnar form to squamous form. Examine the transitional epithelium slide and view both forms. The fuller the bladder, the more squamous this tissue becomes. This is because few desmosomes join the cells at their junctions, so the cells can stay together, but also spread out and flop over each other as the bladder empties. The Urethra The final tube of the urinary system is the urethra. The urethra also joins the urinary bladder at the bladders base. The entrance of the ureters and the exit of the urethra make a smooth triangular fold called the trigone. Incidentally, you can remember that there are two ureters and

Name__________________________________

Draw the glomerulus and the proximal and distal convoluted tubules. Remember that the distal convoluted tubules are not fuzzy inside and have a paler stain.

Draw the collecting ducts

Draw the inner lining of the urinary bladder. Note the transitional epithelium.