Histomorphometric Studies of the Urinary Tubules of the African Grasscutter (Thryonomys swinderianus)

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Department of Veterinary Anatomy, University of Abuja, Abuja, Nigeria.

2 Department of Veterinary Anatomy, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria.

3 Department of Veterinary Physiology and Pharmacology, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria.

Abstract

The study was carried out to elucidate the luminal diameters of some segments of the urinary tubules in the grasscutter (Thryonomys swinderia- nus). Seven adult, apparently, healthy grasscutters were used in this study. They were anaesthesized with chloro- form, dissected and the kidneys removed. The kidneys were fixed and processed by routine histological procedures. The various segments of the nephron were identified by their cell types and their diameters were measured. The data obtained weresubjected to Pearson’s correlationanalysis. The diameters of theBowman’s capsule and glomeruluswere 11.24 ± 0.460 and 9.21 ± 0.347 μm, respectively. There was a very strong positive correlation between the diameters of the Bowman’s capsule andthose of the glomerulus (r = 0.975, P < 0.01). A significant positive correlation was also observed between the distal convoluted tubule and the thin segment of the loop of Henle (r = 0.786, P < 0.05), the collecting duct and the proximal convoluted tubule (r = 0.781, P < 0.05), and between the collecting duct and the thin segment of the loop of Henle (r = 0.821, P < 0.05). This study has attempted to present base-line data of the diameters of the various segments of the nephron.

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