Kidney development begins with interactions between the ureteric bud, an epithelial outgrowth of the Wolffian duct, and the surrounding metanephric mesenchyme. These mutually inductive interactions results in formation of the branched collecting system from the ureteric bud and most of…
Approximately 170 liters per day of glomerular filtrate is formed in the human renal cortex. Nephrons and collecting ducts perform the enormous task of reabsorbing ~99% of the filtrate while regulating the small quantity finally excreted. Highly specific tubular-vascular relationships…
More than a century ago, Golgi observed that “the ascending limb of the loop of Henle returns with invariable constancy to its capsule of origin”. At this point of contact at the glomerular hilum, the afferent and efferent arterioles together…
The glomerulus or renal corpuscle is comprised of the glomerular tuft surrounded by Bowman’s capsule and space. The tuft is a specialized microvascular bed which contains three cell types including the fenestrated or sinusoidal glomerular endothelial cells, the visceral epithelial…
Marcello Malpighi (1628–1694) discovered the renal corpuscle and proposed that each glomerular body embraces the ampullar extremity of a tubule to form a “glandular follicle”. Thereafter, progress toward understanding the structure and function of the nephron stalled for two centuries,…
The mammalian kidney is multiform. The basic architecture is best understood in the unipapillary kidney, which is common in all small species. A coronal section of this kidney shows the main structural parts (Figure 20.1a). The renal cortex, as a…
Classical transmitter ligands evolved about 1000 million years ago. 1 The role of dopamine as a neurotransmitter has evolved with time. In primordial and plant cells, dopamine is present, even though catecholamine signaling is not used. In invertebrate neural systems,…
Increasing evidence suggests that the ATP/P2 receptor system acts in an autocrine or paracrine fashion to affect various aspects of renal function. P2 receptors have been identified in most renal vessels and nephron segments; ATP is released from renal epithelial…
Perhaps nothing underscores the special relationship between the kidney and the eicosanoids better than the profound clinical effects non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS) have on kidney function. NSAIDs are widely used to treat pain and inflammatory diseases, and work by blocking…
One of the first observations of a potential neural control of kidney function was made by Claude Bernard in the middle of the 19th century, who reported a unilateral diuresis following section of the greater splanchnic nerve of the anesthetized…