[History of knowledge about the structure of renal corpuscles and afferent arterioles]

Some morphological findings obtained during the more than 300-year history of research into the fine structure of the kidney are presented in chronological order (discovery of renal corpuscles and their relationship to kidney arteries, elucidation of topographic relationships between glomeruli and tubules, discovery of specialized structure of juxtaglomerular segments of afferent arterioles). Gradual insight into the structure of the kidney was accompanied by elucidation of its function. Historical knowledge and findings demonstrated on simple drawings were verified in the present study by sophisticated methods of imaging, including transmission and scanning electron microscopy. The correspondence of the old schemes representing renal corpuscles (Malpighi, Bowman) with the actual morphological picture was established.