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Kidney Dissection Checklist
Show me the following items as you discover them:
______Renal Artery opening
______Renal Vein opening
______The ureter opening
______The cortex layer
______The medulla layer
______The collecting ducts of the renal pelvis
______A single nephron(see next page)
______Nephrons under the dissecting microscope – look for the alternating tiny red capillaries and the tiny white collecting ducts. You should see a striped pattern. Each pair of red and white stripes is one nephron; thousands of nephrons are packed closely together.
If we could zoom in on one nephron…
A Glomerulus is a bunch of tiny, delicate capillaries.
A Bowman’s capsule is the very beginning part of the collecting ducts which start collecting the urine which ultimately drains into the renal pelvis and ureter.
The Loop of Henle is the name given to the part of each nephron that loops down from the cortex layer into the medulla layer.
Homework:
Now that you’ve seen the kidney up close, how do you think it does what it does?
You know that blood contains many, many components.
You know that the kidney receives blood and gets rid of
- excess water
- excess salt (sodium)
- all urea
…while leaving everything else, including your digested nutrients, in the bloodstream.
How do you think it manages to do that?
Use words or pictures to offer an idea.
This is indeed very hard to do, so talk with other people and don’t be afraid to suggest something that might seem unlikely. Do be as specific as you can. What really goes on in there, do you think?
As a hint, think about machines or appliances or household devices that sort materials or separate materials from each other.
- What aspect of the device does the sorting or separating?
- What are some different properties of materials themselves that allow them to be separated?
Make sure your response is on a standard size piece of paper.