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This illustration demonstrates the normal kidney physiology, including the Proximal Convoluted Tubule (PCT), Loop of Henle, and Distal Convoluted Tubule (DCT). It also includes illustrations showing where some types of diuretics act, and what they do. Renal physiology (Latin renes, "kidneys") is the study of the physiology of the kidney.
The glomerulus (pl.: glomeruli) is a network of small blood vessels (capillaries) known as a tuft, located at the beginning of a nephron in the kidney. Each of the two kidneys contains about one million nephrons. The tuft is structurally supported by the mesangium (the space between the blood vessels), composed of intraglomerular mesangial cells.
Blood flows into these capillaries through the afferent arterioles and leaves through the efferent arterioles. The high hydrostatic pressure forces small molecules in the tubular fluid such as water , glucose , amino acids , sodium chloride and urea through the filter, from the blood in the glomerular capsule across the basement membrane of the ...
The filtration fraction is the amount of plasma that is actually filtered through the kidney. This can be defined using the equation. The kidney is a very complex organ and mathematical modelling has been used to better understand kidney function at several scales, including fluid uptake and secretion. [35] [36]
In multilobar kidneys, the pyramids are separated from each other by dipped into the kidney areas of cortical tissue known as the renal columns. [61] Blood enters the kidney through the renal artery, which in the multilobar kidney then branches in the region of the renal pelvis into large interlobar arteries that pass through the renal columns.
The concave part of the bean-shaped kidneys is called the renal hilum, through which the renal artery and nerves enter the kidney. The renal vein, collecting lymphatic vessels and ureter exit the kidney through the renal hilum. [6] [55] The kidneys are located retroperitoneally [6] on the back wall of the body of mammals. [7]
The venous drainage of the kidney large mirrors its arterial supply, except that there are no segmental veins. [4] The stellate veins arise from the capillaries, then drain successively through interlobular veins and interlobar veins until these converge from across the kidney to form the renal vein for that kidney.
The renal corpuscle is composed of two structures, the glomerulus and the Bowman's capsule. [3] The glomerulus is a small tuft of capillaries containing two cell types. . Endothelial cells, which have large fenestrae, are not covered by dia