Kidney -- a bean-shaped organ with renal arteries and veins entering with the ureter at the hilum.

After studying the diagrams showing the overall organization of the kidney and the note the arrangement of the components in nephrons, see if you can identify its basic components.

Examine a section of stained section of the kidney

• Note the thin fibrous capsule and the fibrous/fatty support tissue at the hilum area surrounding the renal pelvis. The orientation of this section does not clearly show the kidney's internal organization. .
• With low power, identify the cortex and the medulla.
• Near the corticomedullary junction can be several sets of arcuate arteries and veins cut transversely. (The veins still contain blood.) Still with low power, identify in the cortex renal corpuscles and then the medullary rays converging on the renal papilla and calyx.
• Note that the largest collecting ducts (the ducts of Bellini) converge to form the renal papilla, and that this is surrounded by the calyx composed of transitional or urinary epithelium.

Name a simple squamous structure in the cortex.

How does the structure of the proximal convoluted tubule cells relate to their function?

Compare and contrast the cells of the proximal convoluted tubule and the distal convoluted tubule.

What is the general function of the loop of Henle?

Kidney stones and the renal cortex.