Anatomy of kidney

What does a kidney look like in real life?

The Anatomy of Kidney

Kidneys are two bean-shaped organs situated in the abdomen on either side of your vertebral column. Have a look at the picture below-

Location of our kidneys in our abdomen
There are two kidneys on either side of the vertebral column situated to the right and left side of the belly button or the navel.

The different parts of a kidney-

If the kidney is cut into 2 halves vertically, you shall see this picture-the anatomy of the kidney-

The filtering unit of the kidney - the nephron
Kidney[inset] and its filtering unit- the Nephron
Picture showing kidney and its various parts that can get affected in kidney disease
Kidney and its different parts.

As you can see, the picture on your left shows the different parts of kidney, namely-

  1. Renal Cortex– forming the outer crust of the kidney
  2. Renal Medulla– forming the inner major part of the filtration system
  3. Minor Calyx– the part where filtered urine is collected from different nephrons
  4. Major Calyx– the part where all minor calyxes from the medulla open into
  5. Renal artery– the blood vessel that brings blood to the kidneys
  6. Renal Vein– the blood vessel that takes away the filtered blood from the kidneys
  7. Renal Pelvis– the part where all the major calyxes pour the urine collected into; and
  8. The Ureter-the tube which transports the urine to the urinary bladder.

Suggested Reading-

Kidney