The volume fraction method for the evaluation of kidney: A stereological study

Summary: It is known that the kidney size is related to body height, body surface area and body weight. In the present study we propose the volume fraction approach of stereological methods that eliminate the effects of body size over the quantitative evaluation of cortex, medulla and pelvis of kidney. Kidneys were removed from 20 Kivircik sheeps and their volumes were measured using the Archimedean principle. The total volume and volume of its components and the volume fraction of cortex, medulla and the pelvis were estimated stereologically. The mean kidney volumes were 61.3±12.7cm3 and 59.7±12.8cm3, using the Archimedean and the Cavalieri principles, respectively. The obtained values were not found to be significantly different (p>0.05). The kidney was composed of 69.7±3.0% cortex, 27.1±2.9% medulla and 3.2±0.7% pelvis. Our results show that the stereological method applied in this study provides unbiased data about the volumetric characteristics of kidney and can be used on physical section of the evaluation of the volume and volume fractions of kidney and its subcomponents.