LABORATORY MANUAL

ON URO-GENITALIA
IN MEDICAL BIOLOGY
DEPARTEMENT
DEPARTEMENT OF MEDICAL BIOLOGY
FACULTY OF MEDICINE
PADJADJARAN UNIVERSITY
BANDUNG
2004
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INTRODUCTION
This laboratory activity on uro-genitalia in Medical Biology Department include:
Early deel!"#e$% !& %'e (r!-)e$*%al +y+%e#, e+"e-*ally (r*$ary
+y+%e#.
Microscopic observation on early development of the chick are used as model of
human, because it is impossible to get the embryological preparation of the human for
microscopic study. or the early development of the human embryo !e used slides.
The period of embryological development stages are measured in hours "chick
embryo#, and the numbers of somite or period of time in days and !eek "human
embryo#.
$ll activity is carried on one !eek.
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DEVELOPMENT OF T/E URO-GENITAL SYSTEM
The urinary and reproductive systems are intimately associated in origin,
development and certain final relations. Both arise in mesoderm that initially take the
form of a common uro-genital ridge, located on each side of the median plane.
&ertebrates have made three distinct e'periments in the production of kidneys. The
earliest and simplest e'cretory organ !as the pronephros, functional today only in
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cyclostomes and a fe! fishes. The pronephros, nevertheless, does serve as a provisional
kidney in larval fishes and amphibians, but it is replaced by the mesonephros !hich
remains as the permanent kidney of these animals. The embryos of reptiles, birds and
mammals develop first a rudimentary and functionless pronephros and then a
mesonephros "functional during a part of fetal life#, !hereas the final kidney is a ne!
organ, the metanephros. These three kidney overlappingly, one caudad of the other, in the
order indicated by their names.
DEVELOPMENT OF T/E MESONEP/RIC 0IDNEY AND GENITAL RIDGE
The pronephros is entirely functionless in higher vertebrates, the mesonephros serve
these embryos as a temporary e'cretory organ that overlaps the initial activity of
permanent kidney. )n most, but not all, mammals function is attained* even in man,
!hose mesonephros is not large, this is apparently true until the tenth !eek.
The mesonephros of each side, like the pronephros, consists of a series of tubule, each
of !hich at one end becomes associated !ith a knot of blood vessels and at the other end
opens into the e'cretory duct. Mesonephric tubules drain into the same e'cretory duct
that began its development in relation to the pronephros.
The adult form of the kidney, therefore, may be regarded as an opisthonephros,
composed of mesonephric and metanephric renal units. +ollecting ducts develop as
evaginations of the mesonphric duct and the renal unit discharge their contents into those
collecting ducts. +ollecting ducts consists of pro'imal renal tubules and distal renal
tubules. To complete a mesonephric tubule there is further canali,ation, gro!th !ith --
shaped banding, and association !ith a glomerulus. The free end of the tubule enlarges
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and becomes thin-!alled !hena kont of blood vessels "the glomerulus# indents one side.
The double-!alled cup, thus formed, is the glomerular "or Bo!man/s# capsule.
DEVELOPMENT OF T/E URO-GENITAL SYSTEM OF /UMAN EMBRYO
The primitive se' gland makes its appearance !ithin a locali,ed region of the
thickening that has already been described as the uro-genital ridge* this folded ridge is
appropriately named since it contains both the nephric and and genital promordia.
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1n the ventromedial surface of the urogenital ridge the peritoneal epithelium begins
to thicken "2 mm, embryos# and rapidly becomes several layers thick. 3roliferation soon
causes this region to bulge into the coelom as the genital ridge. This thickened strip
e'tends longitudinally and thus parallels the mesonephric ridge, but lies medial to it. $t
si' !eeks, the longitudinal furro!s separate the indifferent se' gland from the
mesonephros laterally, and from the mesentery of the gut, medially.
DEVELOPMENT OF T/E PRONEP/ROS-MESONEP/ROS-METANEP/-
ROS OF T/E /UMAN EMBRYO
The human pronephros is vestigial, it is a !ell develop as that of other amniotes
embryos. )t consists of several pair of rudimentary pronephric 4tubules5, arising as
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dorsolateral sprouts from the longitudinally fused nephrotomes "the nephrogenic cord# of
each side.
6ven preceding the appearance of tubule primordial at 17 somites, a cellular strand
has split a!ay from the corresponding cord. This hollo!s as the primitive excretory duct,
and the pronephric tubules 8oin the duct. The degeneration of pronephric tubules is
complete at about the 0 mm. stage, but the e'cretory duct persists.
The formation of mesonephric primordia commences at about somite 11 in human
embryos !ith some 19 somites. )n a : mm. embryo the caudal limit is reached at the
t!enty-si' somite . 6mbryos four nine !eeks old have a rather constant number of about
(7 tubules in each mesonephros.
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)n all, a ma'imum number of about .7 pairs of tubules is possible, of !hich some 1:
pairs still persist at nine !eeks. ;alf of these are already non-functional, !hile !ithin
another !eek all becomes discontinuous* yet the ma'imum degeneration attained is not
complete until the end of the fourth month. The glomeruli occupy a median column* the
duct is lateral and the tubules are intermediate and dorsal in position.
The development of the metanephros:
The permanent kidney of amniotes "reptiles, birds and mammals# arises far caudad in
the body. $s in the case of the mesonephros, the final kidney consists of an aggregate of
tubules !hich into a common duct. $lso like the mesonephros, the metanephros is double
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origin* but in this instance the boundary bet!een the t!o components lies mid!ay of the
uriniferous tubules themselves.
The mesonephric duct makes a sharp bend 8ust before 8oining the cloaca. )t is at this
angle "level of the t!enty-eight somite, or the future first sacral vertebra# that the so-
called ureteric bud soon arises.
The internal layer of the metanephrogenic tissue subdivides into a corresponding
number of masses. During the seventh !eek some of the nephrogenic tissue about the
ends of the collecting tubules condenses into spherical masses* these hang do!n in the
angles bet!een the end-buds of collecting tubules and their parent stems "ig.$#. 1ne
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such metanephric sphere is the fore-runner of each secretory tubule. The formation of
ne! spheres and their transformation into tubules continue at progressively higher levels
as the corte' thickens and the stem tubules continue to branch. The stage of a solid sphere
is soon converted into a vesicle !ith an eccentrically placed cavity "ig. $,B#. The
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vesicle then elongates, thereby producing an --shaped secretory tubule "ig.+# !hich
unites at one end !ith the ad8acent terminal collecting tubule "ig.D#. The thinner-!alled,
blind end of the tubule becomes the glomerular capsule "Bo!man/s# of a renal
corpuscle "ig.D,6#. The stage of the --shaped tubule is follo!ed by marked elongation
and t!isting "ig.,=#.
0*d$ey+
>hen a kidney is sliced length!ise, it is possible to see that the renal artery and vein
have many branches inside it "ig: 1a#. >ithout the presence of the blood vessels, it is
easier to identify three regions of a kidney. The renal corte' is an outer granulated layer
that dips do!n in bet!een a radially striated, or lined, inner layer called the renal
medulla. The renal medulla consists of cone-shaped tissue masses called renal pyramids.
The renal pelvis is a central space, or cavity, that is continuous !ith the ureter "ig:1b#.
Microscopically, the kidney is composed of over one million nephrons, sometime call
renal or kidney tubules "ig: 1c#. The nephrons produce urine and are positioned so that
the urine flo!s into a collecting duct. -everal nephrons enter the same collecting duct*
the collecting ducts enter the renal pelvis.
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6ach nephron has its o!n blood supply, including t!o capillary regions. rom the
renal artery, an afferent arteriole leads to the glomerulus, a knot of capillaries inside the
glomerular capsule. Blood leaving the glomerulus enters the efferent arteriole and then
peritubular capillaries, !hich surround the rest of the nephron. rom there the blood goes
into a venule that 8oins the renal vein. The arro! in igure % sho! the path of blood about
a nephron.
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C!$)e$*%al Cy+%*- 0*d$ey
$ccording to the 4nonunion5 theory of the formation of renal cysts, the collecting
and e'cretory tubules fail to 8oin. The e'cretory units develop then in a normal manner
and may even form functional glomeruli. $ccumulation of urine in the convoluted
tubules, ho!ever, causes them to dilate and gradually to form cysts. More recent
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evidence suggests that the initial defect lies in the abnormal formation or function in the
pro'imal convoluted tubules. Degenerative changes then occur and multiple cysts form.
Re$al A)e$e+*+
Bilateral and unilateral renal agenesis is presumably caused by an early
degeneration of the ureteric bud. >hen the ureteric bud does not reach the metanephric
tissue cap, the latter fails to proliferate.
Pel*- a$d /!r+e+'!e 3*d$ey
-ometimes both kidneys are pushed so close together during their passage
through the arterial fork that the lo!er poles fuse. This results in the formation of a
horseshoe kidney "ig: (B#. The horseshoe kidney is usually located at the level of the
lo!er lumbar vertebrae, since its ascent is prevented by the root of the inferior mesenteric
artery "ig: (B#. The ureters arise from the anterior surface of the kidney and pass ventral
to the isthmus in a caudal direction.
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