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One of the measures of kidney function is the glomerular filtration rate (GFR). Other tests that can assess the function of the kidneys include assessment of electrolyte levels such as potassium and phosphate , assessment of acid-base status by the measurement of bicarbonate levels from a vein, and assessment of the full blood count for anaemia .
The kidney has many functions, which a well-functioning kidney realizes by filtering blood in a process known as glomerular filtration. A major measure of kidney function is the glomerular filtration rate (GFR). The glomerular filtration rate is the flow rate of filtered fluid through the kidney.
Proper function of the kidney requires that it receives and adequately filters blood. This is performed at the microscopic level by many hundreds of thousands of filtration units called renal corpuscles, each of which is composed of a glomerulus and a Bowman's capsule.
The glomerulus and its surrounding Bowman's capsule constitute a renal corpuscle, the basic filtration unit of the kidney. [2] The rate at which blood is filtered through all of the glomeruli, and thus the measure of the overall kidney function, is the glomerular filtration rate.
Dialysis is a treatment that substitutes for the function of normal kidneys. Dialysis may be instituted when approximately 85%–90% of kidney function is lost, as indicated by a glomerular filtration rate (GFR) of less than 15.
The glomerular basement membrane of the kidney is the basal lamina layer of the glomerulus.The glomerular endothelial cells, the glomerular basement membrane, and the filtration slits between the podocytes perform the filtration function of the glomerulus, separating the blood in the capillaries from the filtrate that forms in Bowman's capsule. [1]
These pedicels interdigitate with pedicels of adjacent podocytes forming filtration slits. There are two poles in the renal corpuscle, a vascular pole and a tubular pole. [4] The vascular pole is a location of the glomerulus. At the vascular pole, the afferent arterioles and efferent arterioles enter and leave the glomerulus in the Bowman's ...
The juxtaglomerular apparatus is part of the kidney nephron, next to the glomerulus. It is found between afferent arteriole and the thick ascending limb of the loop of Henle (distal straight tubule) of the same nephron. This location is critical to its function in regulating renal blood flow and glomerular filtration rate. [2] [3]