The anatomy of a cellular filter
Chemical balance and body harmony
From ancient mummies to modern dialysis
YOUR GOAL
Master of The body's secret filters
artiteacher Glomerular filtration barrier
Keep the protein! (Keep the protein!) Podocyte zippers keep the protein!
sonia Learn how a simple nylon mesh strains individual cells from tissue. View our infographic guide to master this essential lab technique today.
artiteacher Inside each kidney, a million tiny structures called nephrons work together to clean your blood.
Kidney blood flow: Kidneys filter your entire blood supply roughly 40 times every single day.
A cluster of capillaries at the end of a kidney tubule where waste products are filtered from the blood. In 1666, Marcello Malpighi discovered these tiny capillary networks while studying the microscopic structure of the kidney.
What percentage of the heart's pumped blood goes directly to the kidneys every minute?
artiteacher The filtration process begins at the glomerulus, a tiny cluster of blood vessels that acts like a biological colander.
If you stretched out all the microscopic nephrons from both human kidneys, how far would they reach?
Approximately how many nanometers wide are the pores in the glomerulus's filtering membrane?
What is the name of the tiny, high-pressure cluster of blood vessels where kidney filtration begins?
Out of the 180 liters of fluid filtered by human kidneys daily, how much is actually turned into waste?
What vital nutrients do the kidney's renal tubules actively pull back into the bloodstream during recycling?
Which Italian biologist first discovered the microscopic filtering units of the kidney in 1666?