This is the same image we used to show you how to find simple squamous epithelium in the kidney (the outer part of the kidney is at the top). Since each organ in the body is made of two or more tissues, most of the slides you see in lab will have several tissues on them. So you have to learn 1) where to find the tissue you want and 2) how to tell it apart from all of the other tissues that are one the same slide.

This time you are looking for simple cuboidal epithelium. It is found throughout the kidney. It forms most of the microscopic tubes that process body fluids and make urine. You can find it near the glomeruli (round structures in top third of image) and also in the lower parts of the kidney

(The bar will be explained later.)

 
Cuboidal cells are about as tall as they are wide. The nucleus is usually round and located in the center of the cell. Simple epithelial tissues have only one layer of cells.

Knowing about the shape and position of the nucleus in the cells will allow you to recognize tissues even when you can't tell where the edges of the cells are. Since you are trying to find a simple cuboidal epithelium, look for rows or rings of round dark dots (the nuclei of the cuboidal epithelial cells). Most of the cells in this image are simple cuboidal epithelial cells.

 
The arrow is pointing to a cross section of a tube made of simple cuboidal epithelium. Start at the point of the arrow and follow the nuclei in a circle until you get back to the arrow. There are several other tubes shown in cross section on this image.

Some of the tubes were sliced (sectioned) straight across and they look like circles. In other places the tubes were cut at an angle (in anatomy this is called an oblique section) and they look more like ovals. In the inner parts of the kidney (on the middle third of the top image on this page) the tubes are sliced longitudinally (long wise) and the cells that make up the walls of the tubes appear in parallel rows.

 
This image is from the part of the kidney indicated by a bar in the top image on this page. You are now looking at the same structures but from a different angle. All of the structures in this image are sections of kidney tubules.