A study of histogenesis of human fetal kidney

Abstract

The normal developmental anatomy and histogenesis of urinary system helps in understanding, diagnosis and treatment of prenatal renal disorders like Wilms` tumor, multicystic renal dysplasia, hydronephroses…etc. Present study aims at studying the human kidney development by noting changes in the gross renal morphology and renal histology in fetuses of various age groups. The study was carried out at Dept. of anatomy P. D. U. Medical College Rajkot, Gujarat, India, on forty kidneys from twenty human foetuses (11 males and 9 females) of different fertilization ages ranging from 12th weeks to 36th weeks of fertilization which showed no abnormalities of the urinary tracts on macroscopic inspection. Human fetuses were procured from the Dept. of Obstetrics and Gynecology, P. D. U. Medical College Rajkot, Gujarat. After measuring foetal weight, 10 % formalin was injected in cavities and fetuses were put into 10% formalin solution. Kidneys were dissected out and after studying morphology were kept in 10% formalin, processed in paraffin, 7mm sections stained with haematoxyllin-eosin and studied under microscope. All kidneys were lobulated, bean shaped and all the dimensions of kidney increased with increase in age and weight of foetus. Histologically, the smallest glomeruli were in the most superficial cortex and the largest in the juxtamedullary zone. Size of nephrogenic zone was decreasing while size of cortex and medulla increased with increase in fetal age.