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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 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]
Diagram of the circulation related to a single glomerulus, associated tubule, and collecting system The renal corpuscle in the cortex (outer layer) of the kidney. At the top, the renal corpuscle containing the glomerulus. The filtered blood exits into the renal tubule as filtrate, at right. At left, blood flows from the afferent arteriole (red ...
Bowman's capsule (or the Bowman capsule, capsula glomeruli, or glomerular capsule) is a cup-like sac at the beginning of the tubular component of a nephron in the mammalian kidney that performs the first step in the filtration of blood to form urine. A glomerulus is enclosed in the sac. Fluids from blood in the glomerulus are collected in the ...
Each kidney, with its adrenal gland is surrounded by two layers of fat: the perirenal fat present between renal fascia and renal capsule and pararenal fat superior to the renal fascia. The human kidney is a bean-shaped structure with a convex and a concave border. [14]
The nephron is the minute or microscopic structural and functional unit of the kidney. It is composed of a renal corpuscle and a renal tubule. The renal corpuscle consists of a tuft of capillaries called a glomerulus and a cup-shaped structure called Bowman's capsule. The renal tubule extends from the capsule.
[17] [6] [18] Differences in kidney structure are the result of adaptations during evolution to variations in body mass and habitats (in particular, aridity) between species. [19] [20] [12] The cortex and medulla of the kidney contain nephrons, [21] each of which consists of a glomerulus and a complex tubular system. [22]
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.