Scanning electron microscopy studies of the vascular pole of the rat glomerulus.

The vascular poles of 30 renal corpuscles were studied in critical-point dried renal cortex of the Munich-Wistar rat by scanning electron microscope (SEM). In 28 cases one afferent and one efferent arteriole were observed; one was done in the Sprague-Dawley rat, where 34 renal corpuscles were examined. One afferent and a single efferent arteriole were found in 32 cases; in one case only one afferent and two efferent arterioles were observed. In another case it was questioned whether a single or a double efferent arteriole is present. In addition, the specimens allowed an evaluation of the area where the extraglomerular mesangium passes into the mesangial cells of the glomerular tuft. This area was found to be rather small to represent a "punctum fixum" for a contraction of the entire mesangium.