Body organ that filters blood for the secretion of URINE and that regulates ion concentrations.

The outer zone of the KIDNEY, beneath the capsule, consisting of KIDNEY GLOMERULUS; KIDNEY TUBULES, DISTAL; and KIDNEY TUBULES, PROXIMAL.

A cluster of convoluted capillaries beginning at each nephric tubule in the kidney and held together by connective tissue. Glomerular Filtration Rate; Renal Blood Flow, Effective; Renal Plasma Flow, Effective;

Highly differentiated epithelial cells of the visceral layer of BOWMAN CAPSULE of the KIDNEY. They are composed of a cell body with major CELL SURFACE EXTENSIONS and secondary fingerlike extensions called pedicels. They enwrap the KIDNEY GLOMERULUS capillaries with their cell surface extensions forming a filtration structure. The pedicels of neighboring podocytes interdigitate with each other leaving between them filtration slits that are bridged by an extracellular structure impermeable to large macromolecules called the slit diaphragm, and provide the last barrier to protein loss in the KIDNEY.

The layer of EXTRACELLULAR MATRIX that lies between the ENDOTHELIUM of the glomerular capillaries and the PODOCYTES of the inner or visceral layer of the BOWMAN CAPSULE. It is the product of these two cell types. It acts as a physical barrier and an ion-selective filter. Anti-Glomerular Basement Membrane Disease;

The internal portion of the kidney, consisting of striated conical masses, the renal pyramids, whose bases are adjacent to the cortex and whose apices form prominent papillae projecting into the lumen of the minor calyces.

The functional units of the kidney, consisting of the glomerulus and the attached tubule.

A double-walled epithelial capsule that is the bulbous closed proximal end of the kidney tubular system. It surrounds the cluster of convoluted capillaries of KIDNEY GLOMERULUS and is continuous with the convoluted PROXIMAL KIDNEY TUBULE.

The U-shaped portion of the renal tubule in the KIDNEY MEDULLA, consisting of a descending limb and an ascending limb. It is situated between the PROXIMAL KIDNEY TUBULE and the DISTAL KIDNEY TUBULE.

The flattened, funnel-shaped expansion connecting the URETER to the KIDNEY CALICES.

Recesses of the kidney pelvis which divides into two wide, cup-shaped major renal calices, with each major calix subdivided into 7 to 14 minor calices. Urine empties into a minor calix from collecting tubules, then passes through the major calix, renal pelvis, and ureter to enter the urinary bladder. (From Moore, Clinically Oriented Anatomy, 3d ed, p211)