Anatomy study note · Abdomen

Kidney

The paired retroperitoneal organs that excrete metabolic waste as urine and control water, electrolyte and acid–base balance. They lie high on the posterior abdominal wall beside the vertebral column; the right is a little lower because of the liver.

Key points

• Retroperitoneal; right lower than left.
• Hilum front → back: vein, artery, ureter (VAU).
• Capsule → perirenal fat → renal fascia → pararenal fat.
• Pyramid → papilla → minor → major calyx → pelvis → ureter.
• Renal artery at L2; renal vein → IVC.
• Horseshoe kidney caught under the IMA.
• Nephrons: metanephros (intermediate mesoderm). Collecting system: ureteric bud.
• Filtration barrier: fenestrated endothelium + basal lamina + slit diaphragm.
• PCT: brush border, resorbs all glucose.

The full note in the atlas also covers

Relations · Features · Blood supply · Nerve supply · Lymph drainage · Histology · Development · Clinical notes

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Written from

• Snell’s Clinical Anatomy by Regions, 10th ed., ch. 7, PDF pp. 932–950
• Inderbir Singh’s Human Embryology, ch. 16, PDF pp. 277, 282–285
• BRS Cell Biology & Histology, 7th ed., ch. 18, PDF pp. 320–325

More from the abdomen

• Large intestine
• Linea alba
• Liver
• Lumbar plexus
• Pancreas
• Peritoneum
• Portal vein
• Psoas major
• Pyramidalis
• Quadratus lumborum
• Rectus abdominis
• Renal arteries and veins

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