The morphology of the afferent and efferent domain of the sheep glomerulus

BACKGROUND: It is important to know the morphology of the glomerulus in order to explain kidney infiltration. The present study aims to research the morphology of afferent and efferent domains of sheep kidney glomeruli. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this study, 2000 glomeruli from 20 kidneys of Akkaraman sheep were examined using the polyester resin method. RESULTS: It was found that the glomeruli of sheep kidney usually had an afferent arteriole as well as an efferent arteriole. Besides, it was also found that five glomeruli had two efferent arterioles. It is known that the afferent domain constitutes the largest part of the glomerulus. In two of the glomeruli that we examined, the afferent domain formed the 1/2 of the glomeruli wherein the other two glomeruli afferent domain formed the 3/4. CONCLUSIONS: It is known that there are many anastomoses between the afferent and efferent domain of capillaries. However, it is not well-explained how anastomosis is created between the afferent and efferent domains. In our study, it was identified that those anastomoses were not inside the lobes but between the surrounding capillaries.