Gomerulus & Podocytes

Abstract

This is a painting representation of a Scanning Electron Microscope image (of about 5,000x) of the glomerulus, podocytes and glomarular filtrates of the kidneys created in Adobe Photoshop. A glomerulus is a capillary tuft that performs the first step in filtering blood to form urine. It is surrounded by Bowman's capsule in nephrons of the vertebrate kidney. If a substance can pass through the endothelial cells, glomerular basement membrane, and podocytes, then it is known as glomerular filtrate, and it enters lumen of proximal tubule. Podocytes form a tight interdigitating network of foot processes (pedicels) that control the filtration of proteins from the capillary lumen into Bowman's space.