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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.
Diagram outlining movement of ions in nephron, with the collecting ducts on the right. The collecting duct system is the final component of the kidney to influence the body's electrolyte and fluid balance. In humans, the system accounts for 4–5% of the kidney's reabsorption of sodium and 5% of the kidney's reabsorption of water. At times of ...
This filtrate then flows along the length of the nephron, which is a tubular structure lined by a single layer of specialized cells and surrounded by capillaries. The major functions of these lining cells are the reabsorption of water and small molecules from the filtrate into the blood, and the secretion of wastes from the blood into the urine.
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.
Each nephron is located in both the cortex and the medulla. The most proximal part of the nephron is glomerulus, which is located in the cortex. [28] The nephrons of the mammalian kidneys have loops of Henle, which are the most efficient way to reabsorb water and produce concentrated urine to conserve water in the body. [12]
The proximal tubule is the segment of the nephron in kidneys which begins from the renal pole of the Bowman's capsule to the beginning of loop of Henle.At this location, the glomerular parietal epithelial cells (PECs) lining bowman’s capsule abruptly transition to proximal tubule epithelial cells (PTECs).
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 ...
The DCT is lined with simple cuboidal cells, the distal convoluted tubule cells, that are shorter than those of the proximal convoluted tubule (PCT). The lumen appears larger in the PCT than the DCT lumen because the PCT has a brush border (microvilli).