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This essay will critically review some of the major uses of renal micropuncture techniques, focusing in particular on the stationary method, free-flow micropuncture and renal microperfusion, the latter including both in vivo and in vitro methods. The essay will conclude with a short review of other uses of micropuncture. Wearn and Richards (1924) were the first people to use micropuncture successfully on the kidney. They successfully inserted a micropipette into the glomerulus of a single amphibian …

…which are beyond the scope of this essay. These include the determination of the hydrostatic pressure of tubular fluid and glomerular capillaries, measurement of electrical potential differences across tubular epithelium and across cell membranes, the determination of specific transepithelial resistance and the perfusion of blood capillaries. It is certainly no understatement to say that the technique of micropuncture has been the single most important event in the history of our understanding of renal physiology.wersdf