The renal pelvis: machinery that concentrates urine in the papilla #MMPMID12531923
Dwyer TM; Schmidt-Nielsen B
News Physiol Sci 2003[Feb]; 18 (?): 1-6 PMID12531923show ga
Two decades ago, Bodil Schmidt-Nielsen and Bruce Graves documented the rhythmic contractions of the renal pelvis in a remarkable video, visually demonstrating how peristaltic waves empty the papilla and how the subsequent elastic recoil draws water from the collecting duct and into the tethered-open ascending vasa recta. Thus a periodic hydrostatic gradient generates an axial osmotic gradient. This review recapitulates the video and offers a link to figures and scenes digitized from the original tape.