Renal anatomy of the pigmy hippopotamus (Choeropsis liberiensis): an overview.
The adult kidney of Choeropsis liberiensis is 74.8% cortex and 22.9% medulla. The neonatal cortex is relatively less. A single kidney has about 3 x 10(6) glomeruli. These form 5% of renal mass in the adult but more so in neonates. The primary tubus maximus, TM1, follows the lateral curvature of the kidney. It gives off, toward the hilum, dorso-ventrally paired secondary tubi maximi, TM2. The tubi are a single layer of high cuboidal epithelium from which terminal collecting ducts arise throughout the surrounding inner medulla. The cranial and caudal limbs of TM1 open at a diminutive pelvis which receives a small papilla in continuity with TM1. The medulla is continuous although variably distorted by folds of cortex at the lateral curvature of the kidney. The renal lobes project toward the medial border and consist of cortex, medulla and TM2. The lobar cortex is continuous with the common cortex of the lateral curvature. The kidney, although strongly lobed, has no infundibula or rencules. A main peripheral vein courses medial and parallel to TM1. It is apparently a modified large arcuate vein and receives arcuate and interlobar tributaries. At the level of the papilla it joins the main renal vein. The arterial supply is mainly by interlobar arteries but there are also sizeable external perforator arteries which branch from the main renal artery and perforate the cortex of lobes about the hilum. The source of the arteries is illustrated.
Maluf
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D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D001158:Arteries; D001188:Artiodactyla / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D005260:Female; D007668:Kidney / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000098:blood supply; D014513:Ureter / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D014680:Veins