(34) BIOL 275: A Journey to the Center of the Mouse - The Kidney

     During the Spring semester, the Microanatomy and Histology class has learned techniques of tissue collection, histological processing and staining, microscopic observation, and cellular evaluation and analysis. Here,... [ view full abstract ]

     During the Spring semester, the Microanatomy and Histology class has learned techniques of tissue collection, histological processing and staining, microscopic observation, and cellular evaluation and analysis. Here, we present a product of this work in a gallery of nine student project posters, each exploring a selected mouse (Mus musculus) tissue or organs. For each project, tissue slides were processed using two complementary staining techniques to visualize a broader range of cellular structures and gain a better understand of the relationship between morphological structures and the regulation of physiological functions. To that end, each student’s poster delves into tissue-specific cell types and architectures to provide an overview of how those cells’ function to support the organism as a whole. We invite you to take this “Journey to the Center of the Mouse”, to talk with the students who did this work, and to gain a greater understanding of multicellular organism complexity. 

     This project explores the inner workings of the mouse kidney. Two functions of the kidney include filtering and regulating the osmotic pressure of the blood, which is made possible by the different cell and tissue types within the organ. The tissue slides were processed using specialty stains to illuminate the different structures within the kidney that perform its functions. Starting from the basic structures and functions of the organ, this poster narrows its focus to the functions of these different cell and tissue types to demonstrate how these histological structures work together to ensure the health of the organism.