NAME: _____________________________
BIOLOGY UNIT 1
KIDNEY DISSECTION PRACTICAL
Instructions

Put on safety equipment including lab coat, safety glasses, gloves, and tie back long hair

Collect equipment including dissection board and tools

Collect a kidney and lay it flat on your dissection board

Draw a life-size diagram of the external structure of the kidney on a piece of paper. Include a heading and
label the following structures on your diagram: Fibrous renal capsule, Hilum, Adipose tissue, Ureter

Make observations and answer Questions 1 to 4 below:
Questions
1. Measure the kidney:
Length:
_cm
Width:
_cm
(2 marks)
2. 2. What animal has this kidney come from? How does the size of this animal’s kidney compare to a human’s
kidney? (1 mark)
___________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________
3. 3. What is the colour of
a)
the membrane around the kidney? ____________________________________(1 mark)
b)
the kidney? _______________________________________________________ (1 mark)
4. 4. It should be possible to identify three tubes entering or leaving the kidney. What are these called? (3 marks)
___________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________

Use a scalpel and make a longitudinal section through the kidney

Use pins and the labels provided to make small flags to indicate the following structures:
- Renal capsule
- cortex
- medulla
- renal callacys
- calyx
- ureter
- adipose tissue
- pyramid

Make observations and answer Questions 5 and 6 below:
Questions
5. Name the equipment used for the dissection (3 marks)
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________
__________________________________________________________________
6. What is the colour of the:

a)
Cortex? __________________________________________________________(1 mark)
b)
Medulla?_________________________________________________________(1 mark)
c)
Pelvis?___________________________________________________________(1 mark)
Draw a life-size diagram of the longitudinal section through the kidney on another piece of paper and include
labels and a heading.

Dispose of the kidney and gloves as instructed, clean all the equipment, the bench and work area, and wash
hands.
CRITERIA SHEET
CRITERIA
MARK
MARK
ALLOCATED
AWARDED
Dissection: External structure of the kidney
1
Life-size sketch including heading and 4 specified labels
5
Dissection: Longitudinal section through the kidney
1
Accurate Flag Labels
8
Life size sketch including heading and labels
1
Questions
14
Total
30
FLAGS:
RENAL CAPSULE
URETER
ADIPOSE
TISSUE
RENAL
PELVIS
CORTEX
MEDULLA
PYRAMID
CALLACYS