Kidney Anatomy and PBL

Anatomy was really interesting today. We had one cadaver that showed all of the vasculature in the back part of the abdomen, two that showed the urogenital systems (one male, one female), and one station with embalmed kidneys. We also did radiology. The two cadavers showing the male and female urinary systems were really neat. The bladders had also been dissected open, so we were able to see what they look like from the inside. You can tell the male and female bodies apart just by looking in the abdomen if you look at the orientations of their gonadal blood vessels. Women's travel more toward the center, while men's travel toward the outside. One of the cadavers also had two ureters, which was pretty neat. The ureters are the tubes that carry urine from the kidneys to the bladder. Normally you only have one from each kidney, but apparently a minority of the population has an extra one, including this particular cadaver.

In PBL, our new case is about a guy who produces a large amount of dilute urine. We are studying water regulation by the kidneys this week. My learning objective is about the effects of antidiuretic hormone and how it causes the body to retain water. Water regulation is a pretty interesting and complicated topic. Well, I guess that "interesting and complicated" pretty much describes everything about the kidneys in general.

I don't have anything else that I have to do this afternoon, so I'm going to the gym and then going home.