File:Bowman's_capsule_and_glomerulus.svg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons
glomerulus
Sign in to saveAlso known as kidney glomerulus, renal glomerulus
functional unit of nephron
Key facts
- Pronunciation
- / ɡ l ə ˈ m ɛr ( j ) əl ə s , ɡ l oʊ -/
- Precursor
- Metanephric blastema
- Location
- Nephron of kidney
- Latin
- glomerulus renalis
- Mesh
- D007678
via Wikipedia infobox
Research
46,411 papers- The glomerulus: the sphere of influence.Clinical journal of the American Society of Nephrology : CJASN · 2014
- The glomerulus.Lancet (London, England) · 1979
- The hyperfiltering glomerulus.The Medical clinics of North America · 1984
- About the glomerulus.Kidney international · 1972
- Development of the renal glomerulus: good neighbors and good fences.Development (Cambridge, England) · 2008
via PubMed
Wikidata facts
- Image
- Gray1130.svg
Show 1 more fact
- NCI Thesaurus ID
- C13250
Sources (6)
via Wikidata · CC0
~12 min read
Article
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 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.