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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.
The kidney is well supplied with lymphatic vessels, [114] which remove excess fluid with substances and macromolecules dissolved in it from the interstitium that fills the space between the tubules and blood vessels. [115] [116] The anatomy of the lymphatic system of the kidney is similar between mammals. [117]
A healthy adult has 1 to 1.5 million nephrons in each kidney. [1]: 22 Blood is filtered as it passes through three layers: the endothelial cells of the capillary wall, its basement membrane, and between the podocyte foot processes of the lining of the capsule.
The kidney participates in whole-body homeostasis, regulating acid–base balance, electrolyte concentrations, extracellular fluid volume, and blood pressure. The kidney accomplishes these homeostatic functions both independently and in concert with other organs, particularly those of the endocrine system.
A renal corpuscle (or Malpighian body [1]) is the blood-filtering component of the nephron of the kidney. It consists of a glomerulus - a tuft of capillaries composed of endothelial cells - and a glomerular capsule known as Bowman's capsule .
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. [ 62 ] [ 63 ] The pyramids consist mainly of tubules that transport urine from the cortex, that produces it by blood filtration, to the tips of the ...
In a healthy human, the kidney receives between 12 and 30% of cardiac output, but it averages about 20% or about 1.25 L/min. The basic structural and functional unit of the kidney is the nephron . Its chief function is to regulate the concentration of water and soluble substances like sodium by filtering the blood , reabsorbing what is needed ...
The human hepatic portal system delivers about three-fourths of the blood going to the liver.The final common pathway for transport of venous blood from spleen, pancreas, gallbladder and the abdominal portion of the gastrointestinal tract [2] (with the exception of the inferior part of the anal canal and sigmoid colon) is through the hepatic portal vein.