ABSTRACT
To describe a horseshoe kidney, a congenital anomaly of the upper urinary tract. A case study of horseshoe kidney harvested from a 62-year-old cadaver at Gazi University Medical School is presented. The right and left kidneys were fused at their lower poles by a parenchymal isthmus located ventral to the abdominal aorta and formed a U-shape with two unequal arms. The isthmus of the ectopic kidney was placed obliquely to the left at the level of the fourth and fifth lumbar vertebra. The left kidney was larger and longer than the right one. The kidneys were supplied by three renal arteries arising from the abdominal aorta. Two arteries on the right side supplied blood of the two kidneys, while the third artery that directly originated from the aorta, above the origin of inferior mesenteric artery, supplied the isthmus. Venous drainage of the both kidneys and the isthmus were drained by three veins that opened independently into the inferior vena cava. The right ureter was duplicated in origin. This report shows that knowledge of anomalies such as this is very important in planning and conducting surgical procedures
Subject(s)
Humans , Male , Vena Cava, Inferior , Renal Veins/abnormalities , Renal Artery/abnormalities , Organ Size , Cadaver , Urinary Tract/abnormalitiesABSTRACT
In this study, we applied immuno- histochemical techniques on the functionally little known organ of Chievitz [juxtaoral organ [JOO]] in dogs to determine its origin and possible function. The term abortive materials of 6 Doberman dogs were used for experimental procedures in July 2002 to June 2003 at Gazi University Faculty of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey, after routine light microscopic tissue preparation, the sections were stained with Masson's trichrome stain. In order to elucidate the function-related origin of the organ, we used epidermal growth factor [EGF-r], transforming growth factor [TGF-alpha] and nerve growth factor [NGF-beta] immunohistochemical stains. We observed a very strong and widespread immunoreactivity of EGF-r and TGF-alpha on simple squamous capsular cells. We detected nerve growth factor-beta positivity in granular form both in simple squamous capsular cells and in neighboring connective tissue. However, we did not detect EGF-r reactivity on parenchymal cells except a weak immunoreactivity on central ones. We noticed transforming growth factor-alpha in most of the parenchymal cells while we observed NGF-beta strongly in all the parenchymal cells. These results may point out that the JOO may be of mesothelial or epithelial origin. Having NGF-alpha positive granules and close relationship with blood vessels may imply a neurosecretory function. We believe that our study may add new perspectives to the function of the JOO