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A capillary is a small blood vessel, from 5 to 10 micrometres in diameter, and is part of the microcirculation system. Capillaries are microvessels and the smallest blood vessels in the body. They are composed of only the tunica intima (the innermost layer of an artery or vein), consisting of a thin wall of simple squamous endothelial cells. [2]
Dynamic changes in glomerular capillary pressure exert both tensile and stretching forces on podocyte foot processes, and can lead to mechanical strain on their cytoskeleton. Concurrently, fluid flow shear stress is generated by the movement of glomerular ultrafiltrate, exerting a tangential force on the surface of these foot processes.
Bowman's space (or "urinary space", or "capsular space")—Between the visceral and parietal layers, into which the filtrate enters after passing through the filtration slits. [1] Visceral layer—Lies just above the thickened glomerular basement membrane and is made of podocytes. Beneath the visceral layer lie the glomerular capillaries.
In continuous capillaries the endothelial cells are tightly spaced, allowing only small molecules like ions or water to diffuse through the intercellular clefts (the gaps between the endothelial cells). In fenestrated and sinusoidal capillaries there is more space between the cells, allowing the diffusion of macro-molecules and some proteins.
It is entirely made of connective tissue. It also contains nerves that supply the vessel as well as nutrient capillaries (vasa vasorum) in the larger blood vessels. Capillaries consist of a single layer of endothelial cells with a supporting subendothelium consisting of a basement membrane and connective tissue.
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 movement of water out of the capillary at the arteriolar end causes the concentration of the substances that cannot cross the capillary wall to increase as the blood moves to the venular end of the capillary. The most important substances that are confined to the capillary tube are plasma albumin, the plasma globulins and fibrinogen.
[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 tubule has adjacent peritubular capillaries that run between the descending and ascending portions of the tubule. [2]