ACTA VETERINARIA ET ZOOTECHNICA SINICA ›› 2017, Vol. 48 ›› Issue (12): 2407-2413.doi: 10.11843/j.issn.0366-6964.2017.12.021

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Histological Study on Age-Associated Changes in the Kidney of the Yak

WANG Ting, CUI Yan*, HE Jun-feng, LIU Peng-gang, ZHANG Qian, YANG Xue   

  1. College of Veterinary Medicine, Gansu Agricultural University, Lanzhou 730070, China
  • Received:2017-06-06 Online:2017-12-23 Published:2017-12-23

Abstract:

This experiment was conducted to investigate the histological characteristics and age-related changes in yak kidney. Newborn (1-7 days old, n=5), adult (3-6 years old, n=5) and old (7-10 years old, n=5) yaks were selected as the subjects, and histological and statistical methods were used to observe the changes in yak kidney. The relevant data of kidney units was analyzed and measured by the image analysis software. Histological observations showed that yak kidneys consisted of the surface of the membrane and the internal substance. The malpighian corpuscles were composed of glomeruli and renal capsules. The wall of the renal capsule was rich in collagen fibers and the basal membrane of malpighian corpuscles was PAS positive. The kidney tubules included proximal tubules and distal tubules, which are rich in collagen fibers and had a positive PAS on the epithelium basal membrane. The results of measuring showed that the number of glomeruli per unit field (2.3×106 μm2) decreased with age; while the number of glomerular cells and the size of glomerular nuclei increased with age; the differences was in the maximum cross-sectional area of glomeruli and malpighian corpuscle were the largest in adult, followed by the differences in the aged, with those in the newborn being the smallest. In addition, with the age increasing, the trend of changes in the number of tubule epithelial cells in the kidney cortex and medulla per unit field (2.3×104 μm2), the size of proximal tubule and distal tubule epithelial nuclei were the same as the number of glomeruli and cells in glomeruli, the size of glomeruli nuclei, and the maximum cross-sectional area changes of glomeruli and malpighian corpuscle. The results suggested that the histological structures of yak kidney changed with the increase of age. Moreover, it is presumed that the contributing factors to this change might include glomeruli sclerosis and reduction of substantial cells, however, further empirical investigation is required to be conclusive.

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