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Nephrons
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. The capsule and tubule are connected and are composed of epithelial cells with a lumen. A healthy adult has 1 to 1.5 million nephrons in each kidney. Blood is filtered as it passes through three layers: the endothelial cells of the capillary wall, its basement membrane, and between the foot processes of the podocytes of the lining of the capsule. The tubule has adjacent peritubular capillaries that run between the descending and ascending portions of the tubule. As the fluid from the capsule flows down into the tubule, it is processed by the epithelial cells lining the tubule: water is reabsorbed and substances are exchanged (some are added, others are removed); first ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nephron
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. The capsule and tubule are connected and are composed of epithelial cells with a lumen. A healthy adult has 1 to 1.5 million nephrons in each kidney. Blood is filtered as it passes through three layers: the endothelial cells of the capillary wall, its basement membrane, and between the foot processes of the podocytes of the lining of the capsule. The tubule has adjacent peritubular capillaries that run between the descending and ascending portions of the tubule. As the fluid from the capsule flows down into the tubule, it is processed by the epithelial cells lining the tubule: water is reabsorbed and substances are exchanged (some are added, others are removed); first ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kidney
The kidneys are two reddish-brown bean-shaped organs found in vertebrates. They are located on the left and right in the retroperitoneal space, and in adult humans are about in length. They receive blood from the paired renal arteries; blood exits into the paired renal veins. Each kidney is attached to a ureter, a tube that carries excreted urine to the bladder. The kidney participates in the control of the volume of various body fluids, fluid osmolality, acid–base balance, various electrolyte concentrations, and removal of toxins. Filtration occurs in the glomerulus: one-fifth of the blood volume that enters the kidneys is filtered. Examples of substances reabsorbed are solute-free water, sodium, bicarbonate, glucose, and amino acids. Examples of substances secreted are hydrogen, ammonium, potassium and uric acid. The nephron is the structural and functional unit of the kidney. Each adult human kidney contains around 1 million nephrons, while a mouse kidney ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Glomerular Tuft
The glomerulus (plural 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 blood is filtered across the capillary walls of this tuft through the glomerular filtration barrier, which yields its filtrate of water and soluble substances to a cup-like sac known as Bowman's capsule. The filtrate then enters the renal tubule of the nephron. The glomerulus receives its blood supply from an afferent arteriole of the renal arterial circulation. Unlike most capillary beds, the glomerular capillaries exit into efferent arterioles rather than venules. The resistance of the efferent arterioles causes sufficient hydrostatic pressure within the glomerulus to provide the force for ultrafiltration. The glomerulus ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Glomerulus (kidney)
The glomerulus (plural 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 blood is filtered across the capillary walls of this tuft through the glomerular filtration barrier, which yields its filtrate of water and soluble substances to a cup-like sac known as Bowman's capsule. The filtrate then enters the renal tubule of the nephron. The glomerulus receives its blood supply from an afferent arteriole of the renal arterial circulation. Unlike most capillary beds, the glomerular capillaries exit into efferent arterioles rather than venules. The resistance of the efferent arterioles causes sufficient hydrostatic pressure within the glomerulus to provide the force for ultrafiltration. The glome ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Urinary System
The urinary system, also known as the urinary tract or renal system, consists of the kidneys, ureters, bladder, and the urethra. The purpose of the urinary system is to eliminate waste from the body, regulate blood volume and blood pressure, control levels of electrolytes and metabolites, and regulate blood pH. The urinary tract is the body's drainage system for the eventual removal of urine. The kidneys have an extensive blood supply via the renal arteries which leave the kidneys via the renal vein. Each kidney consists of functional units called nephrons. Following filtration of blood and further processing, wastes (in the form of urine) exit the kidney via the ureters, tubes made of smooth muscle fibres that propel urine towards the urinary bladder, where it is stored and subsequently expelled from the body by urination ( voiding). The female and male urinary system are very similar, differing only in the length of the urethra. Urine is formed in the kidneys through ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Collecting Duct
The collecting duct system of the kidney consists of a series of tubules and ducts that physically connect nephrons to a minor calyx or directly to the renal pelvis. The collecting duct system is the last part of nephron and participates in electrolyte and fluid balance through reabsorption and excretion, processes regulated by the hormones aldosterone and vasopressin (antidiuretic hormone). There are several components of the collecting duct system, including the connecting tubules, cortical collecting ducts, and medullary collecting ducts. Structure Segments The segments of the system are as follows: Connecting tubule With respect to the renal corpuscle, the connecting tubule (CNT, or junctional tubule, or arcuate renal tubule) is the most proximal part of the collecting duct system. It is adjacent to the distal convoluted tubule, the most distal segment of the renal tubule. Connecting tubules from several adjacent nephrons merge to form cortical collecting tubules, and th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Connecting Tubule
The collecting duct system of the kidney consists of a series of tubules and ducts that physically connect nephrons to a minor calyx or directly to the renal pelvis. The collecting duct system is the last part of nephron and participates in electrolyte and fluid balance through reabsorption and excretion, processes regulated by the hormones aldosterone and vasopressin (antidiuretic hormone). There are several components of the collecting duct system, including the connecting tubules, cortical collecting ducts, and medullary collecting ducts. Structure Segments The segments of the system are as follows: Connecting tubule With respect to the renal corpuscle, the connecting tubule (CNT, or junctional tubule, or arcuate renal tubule) is the most proximal part of the collecting duct system. It is adjacent to the distal convoluted tubule, the most distal segment of the renal tubule. Connecting tubules from several adjacent nephrons merge to form cortical collecting tubules, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Renal Physiology
Renal physiology (Latin ''rēnēs'', "kidneys") is the study of the physiology of the kidney. This encompasses all functions of the kidney, including maintenance of acid-base balance; regulation of fluid balance; regulation of sodium, potassium, and other electrolytes; clearance of toxins; absorption of glucose, amino acids, and other small molecules; regulation of blood pressure; production of various hormones, such as erythropoietin; and activation of vitamin D. Much of renal physiology is studied at the level of the nephron, the smallest functional unit of the kidney. Each nephron begins with a filtration component that filters the blood entering the kidney. 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 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Podocyte
Podocytes are cells in Bowman's capsule in the kidneys that wrap around capillaries of the glomerulus. Podocytes make up the epithelial lining of Bowman's capsule, the third layer through which filtration of blood takes place. Bowman's capsule filters the blood, retaining large molecules such as proteins while smaller molecules such as water, salts, and sugars are filtered as the first step in the formation of urine. Although various viscera have epithelial layers, the name visceral epithelial cells usually refers specifically to podocytes, which are specialized epithelial cells that reside in the visceral layer of the capsule. One type of specialized epithelial cell is podocalyxin. The podocytes have long foot processes called ''pedicels'', for which the cells are named ('' podo-'' + '' -cyte''). The pedicels wrap around the capillaries and leave slits between them. Blood is filtered through these slits, each known as a filtration slit, slit diaphragm, or slit pore. Several ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peritubular Capillaries
In the renal system, peritubular capillaries are tiny blood vessels, supplied by the efferent arteriole, that travel alongside nephrons allowing reabsorption and secretion between blood and the inner lumen of the nephron. Peritubular capillaries surround the cortical parts of the proximal and distal tubules, while the vasa recta go into the medulla to approach the loop of Henle. About one-fifth of the blood plasma is filtered into Bowman's capsule as the blood passes through the glomerular capillaries; four-fifths continues into the peritubular capillaries. Ions and minerals that need to be saved in the body are reabsorbed into the peritubular capillaries through active transport, secondary active transport, or transcytosis. The ions that need to be excreted as waste are secreted from the capillaries into the nephron to be sent towards the bladder and out of the body. Essentially, the peritubular capillaries reabsorb useful substances such as glucose and amino acids and secr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Metanephric Blastema
The metanephrogenic blastema or metanephric blastema (or metanephric mesenchyme, or metanephric mesoderm) is one of the two embryological structures that give rise to the kidney, the other being the ureteric bud. The metanephric blastema mostly develops into nephrons, but can also form parts of the collecting duct system. The system of tissue induction between the ureteric bud and the metanephric blastema is a reciprocal control system. GDNF, GDNF, glial cell-derived neurotrophic factor, is produced by the metanephric blastema and is essential in binding to the RET proto-oncogene, Ret receptor on the ureteric bud, which bifurcates and coalesces as a result to form the renal pelvis, major and minor Renal calyx, calyces and collecting ducts. Mutations in the ''EYA1'' gene, whose product regulates ''GDNF'' expression in the developing kidney, lead to the renal abnormalities of BOR syndrome (branchio-oto-renal syndrome). See also * Mesenchyme * Metanephros * Blastema * Kidney developm ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Filtration
Filtration is a physical separation process that separates solid matter and fluid from a mixture using a ''filter medium'' that has a complex structure through which only the fluid can pass. Solid particles that cannot pass through the filter medium are described as ''oversize'' and the fluid that passes through is called the ''filtrate''. Oversize particles may form a filter cake on top of the filter and may also block the filter lattice, preventing the fluid phase from crossing the filter, known as ''blinding''. The size of the largest particles that can successfully pass through a filter is called the effective ''pore size'' of that filter. The separation of solid and fluid is imperfect; solids will be contaminated with some fluid and filtrate will contain fine particles (depending on the pore size, filter thickness and biological activity). Filtration occurs both in nature and in engineered systems; there are biological, geological, and industrial forms. Filtration is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
