renal 

 arterif 



afferent 

 arferiolQ 



renal pelvis 



FIGURE 10. Diagrammatic Representation of the Mammalian 

 Nephron. The blood to this nephron is supplied entirely by the 

 renal artery. After passing through the filtering bed of the glo- 

 merular capillaries, this blood is distributed to a rich plexus of 

 capillaries intimately applied to the tubules, from which it is 

 collected and returned to the systemic circulation by way of the 

 renal vein. Each human kidney contains nearly one million such 

 nephrons, all of which are similar in structure and function. 



