Ultrastructural features of normal sprague dawley's kidney under transmission electron microscope (TEM) / Mohamad Zariff Shahrom

The kidney is a complex organ that carries out a variety of functions responsible for physiological homeostasis. This present paper aims to provide reliable references for future studies involving ultrastructual features of the kidney. In this study, a pair of normal Sprague-Dawley's kidney was cut into thin slices and they were processed by routine electron microscopy procedures prior to examination of the ultrastructural features under transmission electron micsroscope. This present paper has discussed the morphological features of the ultrastructures of glomerulus, proximal tubule, Loop of Henle, distal tubule, and collecting duct and the physiological implications related to them. The glomerular capillary has filtration slits and numerous glomerular epithelial cells' foot processes which allow for efficient passage of substances filtered. The renal tubular cells generally have basal infoldings of the plasma membrane which provides a large surface area for their main functions of reabsorption and secretion. It is significantly found that the ultrastructural features of each of the structures examined have distinct, unique specialization that corresponds to their respective functions.