Morphometrical evaluation of some anatomical features in pig kidneys: Are they different from human kidneys?

In this study we present morphometrical evaluation of some kidney’s anatomical characteristics in two different pig breeds reared in Macedonian farms in order to determinate whether the investigated pig kidneys could be suitable as an experimental model in human medicine. The material was consisted of 156 pig kidneys taken from two adult pig breeds (96 kidneys of Landrace/Yorkshire crossbreed and 60 kidneys from breed Dalland), slaughtered at age of 5.5 months and weighting of 95 kg of mean. The kidneys were evaluated morphmetrically, considering weight, length, cranial and caudal pole width and cranial and caudal pole thickness. The data was statistically evaluated and compared with previous published fi ndings for human kidneys. The results for the pig kidney morphometric measurements for Landrace/Yorkshire crossbreed were the following: weight 158.95g, length 12.73cm, cranial pole width and thickness: 6.39cm and 3.00cm respectively, caudal pole width and thickness 5.75cm and 2.83cm, respectively. In breed Dalland, the renal morphometric measurements showed: weight 182.98g, length 12.61cm, cranial pole width: 6.59cm and cranial pole thickness: 3.15cm, caudal pole width: 5.91cm and caudal pole thickness: 3.04cm. There were positive correlations between several variables considering the renal morphometry. Except for the length, the results of other morphmetrical measurements for Landrace/Yorkshire crossbreed were smaller than those obtained for breed Dalland. From anatomical view despite the differences among these two breeds founded in this study, there are many similarities between the pig and human kidney morphometry. Considering that the best anatomical region for kidney implantation in humans depends on kidney’s anatomical features (length of blood vessels and urinary loop as well as the number of blood vessels) and renal morphological characteristics (weight, length, width and thickness) we can conclude that the pig kidneys from both investigated breeds in selected category could be suitable as an experimental models for endourological research.