Histology of the

Urinary System &

Male Reproductive System
dr. Ira Cinta Lestari, M.Sc
Histology Dept.
Medical Faculty
Universitas Islam Sumatera Utara
Introduction
• The urinary system consists of the paired kidneys and ureters, the bladder,
and the urethra.

• This system helps maintain homeostasis by a complex combination of

processes that involves the following :
Filtration of cellular wastes from blood
Selective reabsorption of water and solutes
Excretion of the wastes and excess water as urine
KIDNEYS
Nephrons
Each kidney contains 1–1.4 million functional
units called nephrons

The major divisions of each nephron are:

1. Renal corpuscle, an initial dilated portion
in the cortex
2. Proximal convoluted tubule, located
primarily in the cortex
3. Thin and thick limbs of the nephron loop
(loop of Henle), which descend into the
medulla, then ascend back to the cortex
4. Distal convoluted tubule
5. Collecting tubule
Blood supply to the kidney
 Microvasculature of the renal cortex

small interlobular arteries (I) capillaries (arrows)

afferent arterioles (A) macula densa (arrowhead)
glomerulus (G)
peritubular capillaries (PT)
Renal
corpuscles
The renal corpuscle is a small
mass of capillaries called the
glomerulus housed within a
bulbous glomerular capsule
Glomerular filtration barrier

The glomerular filtration barrier consists of

three layered components:

1. Fenestrated capillary endothelium

2. Glomerular basement membrane
podocytes (PC) capillary (C)
filtration slits (arrows). fenestrations (arrowhead)
3. Filtration slits between podocyte processes
urinary space (US) basal laminae (BL)
Pedicels (P)
Mesangium

mesangial cell (MC), mesangial matrix (MM)

Functions :
 Physical support and contraction
 Phagocytosis
 Secretion
Renal cortex : Proximal and distal convoluted tubules

 Proximal convoluted tubule (P)

• simple cuboidal epithelium
• long microvilli of the brush
border
• aggregates of small plasma
proteins (+)

 Distal convoluted tubules (D)

• appear empty
• brush border (-)
• protein (-)

Glomerulus (G)
Tubular pole (TP)
Urinary space (U)
Convoluted tubules, nephron loops, and collecting ducts
Renal medulla: Nephron loops and collecting ducts

nephron loops' thin descending limbs (T)

nephron loops' thick ascending limbs (A)
collecting ducts (CD)
parallel vasa recta capillaries (C)
interstitium (I)

The specialized nature of the interstitial tissue helps

maintain the osmolarity gradient established by
differential salt and water transport across the wall of
the nephron loop which is required to concentrate
urine and conserve body water
Juxtaglomerular apparatus or JGA

Basic functions of the JGA :

 Autoregulation of the glomerular filtration
rate (GFR)
 Controlling blood pressure

nephron's distal tubule (D)

glomerulus (G)
macula densa (MD)
afferent arteriole (AA) tunica media
juxtaglomerular granule cells (JG)
lacis cells (L)  extraglomerular mesangial cells
efferent arteriole (EA)
proximal tubules (P)
urinary space (US)
Collecting tubules and ducts
Renal papilla, collecting ducts, and minor calyx

renal papilla (RP)

minor calyx (MC)
adipose tissue (A)
collecting ducts (CD)
interstitium (I)
thin limbs (T)
protective urothelium (U)
Ureters

The urothelium is composed of the following three layers:

 a single layer of small basal cells resting on a very thin basement membrane.
 an intermediate region containing from one to several layers of more
columnar cells.
 a superficial layer of very large, polyhedral or bulbous cells called umbrella
cells which are occasionally bi- or multinucleated and are highly
differentiated to protect underlying cells against the cytotoxic effects of
hypertonic urine.
Urinary bladder
Bladder wall and urothelium
Male Urethra
The male urethra is longer and consists of three segments:
• The prostatic urethra, 3–4 cm long, extends through the prostate gland and is
lined by urothelium
• The membranous urethra, a short segment, passes through an external sphincter
of striated muscle and is lined by stratified columnar and pseudostratified
epithelium
• The spongy urethra, 15 cm in length, is enclosed within erectile tissue of the penis
and is lined by stratified columnar and pseudostratified columnar epithelium with
stratified squamous distally.
Female Urethra
• In women, the urethra is exclusively a urinary organ.
• The female urethra is a tube 4 to 5 cm long, lined initially with transitional
epithelium, then by stratified squamous epithelium and some areas of
pseudostratified columnar epithelium.
• The middle part of the female urethra is surrounded by the external striated
muscle sphincter.
Urethra

The thick epithelial lining is stratified columnar in some areas and pseudostratified columnar
elsewhere, but becomes stratified squamous at the distal end of the urethra.
THE MALE REPRODUCTIVE SYSTEM
TESTES
Seminiferous tubule and interstitial cells

connective tissue (CT)

interstitial cells (IC) secreting Androgens
myoid cells (M)
fibroblasts (F)
sertoli cells (SC)
spermatogonia (SG)
spermatocytes (PS)
seminiferous tubules (ST)
EXCRETORY GENITAL DUCTS
• Excretory genital ducts are those of the epididymis, the ductus (vas) deferens,
and the urethra.
• They transport sperm from the epididymis to the penis during ejaculation.
Epididymis
Ductus deferens
ACCESSORY GLANDS
Seminal vesicles
Prostate gland

The prostate has three zones corresponding to

the glandular layers :

• The transition zone (5%)  contains the

mucosal glands emptying directly into the
urethra.
• The central zone (25%)  contains the
submucosal glands with longer ducts.
• The peripheral zone (70%)  contains the
main glands with still longer ducts, the most
common location of both inflammation and
cancer.
Prostate gland

dense fibromuscular stroma (S) tubuloalveolar glands (G) corpus amylaceum (CA) simple or pseudostratified
columnar epithelium (E) lamina propria (LP) smooth muscle (M)
PENIS
Penile urethra and erectile tissue

corpus spongiosum (CS)

penile urethra (PU)
urethral glands (UG)
corpora cavernosa (CC)
helicine arteries (HA)
tunica albuginea (TA)
References