Abstract

The kidney of the vertebrate is the main organ which balances the body fluid homeostasis.Barbus pectoralis (Cyprinidae) inhabit Karoon River (Southwest Iran). There was no available report on anatomy and histology analysis of B. pectoralis. So in this study, the morphologic and microscopic features of kidney of B. pectoralis were recognized. A total number of 10 young fish freshly prepared from Karoon River in Khouzestan was used. After removing the kidney, it was immediately fixed in Bouin’s solution. Then, 5 to 6 µm sections were made using paraffin embedding techniques and stained with Haematoxylin and Eosin and Periodic Acid Schiff. The results reveal that the kidney of B. pectoralis consisted of two lobes that are slender and long. Microscopic studies showed that the kidneys consisted of excretory portion and hematopoietic-lymphoid tissues. Excretory portion of kidney parenchyma consisted of renal corpuscle and urinary tubules. The neck segment consists of a single layer of ciliated cuboidal or low columnar epithelial cells. The proximal tubules consisted of tall columnar cells with well-developed brush border. Two proximal tubule segments were distinguished by the different height of the cells and brush border. The distal tubules had pale columnar epithelial cells and oval nuclei situated in basal area without brush border. The collecting tubules lined with high cuboidal epithelium. The result shows that although the kidney structure of B. pectoralis has many similarities to other fish species kidney like Cetenopharyngodon idella and Barbus sharpeyi, it also has considerable structural differences.

Key words: Histology, anatomy, Barbus pectoralis, kidney, hematopoietic, renal corpuscle.