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Ureter



Ureter
1. Renal pyramid
2. Efferent artery
3. Renal artery
4. Renal vein
5. Renal hilum
6. Renal pelvis
7. Ureter
8. Minor calyx
9. Renal capsule
10. Inferior renal capsule
11. Superior renal capsule
12. Afferent vein
13. Nephron
14. Minor calyx
15. Major calyx
16. Renal papilla
17. Renal column
Gray's subject #254 1225
Artery Superior vesical artery, Vaginal artery, Ureteral branches of renal artery
Precursor Ureteric bud
MeSH Ureter
Dorlands/Elsevier u_03/12838140

In human anatomy, the ureters are the ducts that carry urine from the kidneys to the urinary bladder, passing anterior to the psoas major. The ureters are muscular tubes that can propel urine along by the motions of peristalsis. In the adult, the ureters are usually 25-30cm long.

In humans, the ureters enter the bladder through the back, running within the wall of the bladder for a few centimetres. The backflow of urine is prevented by valves known as ureterovesical valves, pressure from the filling of the bladder, and the tone of the muscle in the bladder wall.

In the female, the ureters pass through the mesometrium on the way to the urinary bladder.

Histology

  The ureter has a diameter of about 3 millimeters, and the lumen is star-shaped. Like the bladder, it is lined with transitional epithelium, and contains layers of smooth muscle.

The epithelial cells of the ureter are stratified (in many layers), are normally round in shape but become squamous (flat) when stretched. The lamina propria is thick and elastic (as it is important that it is impermeable).

There are two spiral layers of smooth muscle in the ureter wall, an inner loose spiral, and an outer tight spiral. The inner loose spiral is sometimes described as longitudinal, and the outer as circular, (this is the opposite to the situation in the gastrointestinal tract). The distal third of the ureter contains another layer of outer longitudinal muscle.

The adventitia of the ureter, like elsewhere is composed of fibrous connective tissue, that binds it to adjacent tissues.

Diseases and disorders

Medical problems that can affect the ureter include:

  • cancer of the ureter
  • passage of kidney stones
  • ureterocele
  • megaureter
  • vesico-ureteric reflux
  • anatomical abnormalities, such as duplexing and ectopia.

Additional images

 
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Ureter". A list of authors is available in Wikipedia.
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