Nephron facts for kids

Nephron of the kidney. The labelled parts are 1. Glomerulus, 2. Efferent arteriole, 3. Bowman's capsule, 4. Proximal convoluted tubule, 5. Cortical collecting duct, 6. Distal convoluted tubule, 7. Loop of Henle, 8. Duct of Bellini, 9.Peritubular capillaries, 10. Arcuate vein, 11. Arcuate artery, 12. Afferent arteriole, 13. Juxtaglomerular apparatus.

Nephrons are super tiny tubes that are the main working parts of your kidneys. Think of them as miniature factories inside your kidneys! Their big job is to clean your blood by taking out waste, extra salt, and too much water.

Each nephron starts in the outer part of the kidney, called the cortex. Then, it dips down into the middle part, known as the medulla. After that, it loops back up to the cortex before heading towards the center of the kidney, which is called the pelvis. In the pelvis, many nephrons connect to a tube called the ureter, which carries the cleaned waste out of your body.

Did you know that a normal human kidney has a huge number of nephrons? Each kidney has between 800,000 and 1.5 million of these tiny cleaning tubes!

How Nephrons Work

Nephrons are amazing at filtering your blood. They have a special structure that helps them do this important job.

Filtering the Blood

Blood enters the nephron through a tiny cluster of blood vessels called the glomerulus. This part acts like a very fine sieve, letting water and small waste products pass through, but keeping important things like blood cells and large proteins inside your body.

Reabsorbing Important Stuff

After filtering, the liquid (now called filtrate) travels through a long, winding tube called the renal tubule. As it moves along, your body reabsorbs (takes back) most of the water, useful salts, and nutrients that it still needs. This way, your body doesn't lose important things.

Removing Waste

Finally, the remaining liquid, which is mostly waste and extra water, becomes urine. This urine then flows into collecting ducts, which lead to the kidney's pelvis and eventually out of your body through the ureter.

Images for kids

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  Fig.1) This diagram shows how the nephron (yellow) works with blood flow (red/blue) to change what's filtered.

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  Fig.3) This image shows how different substances are taken back into the blood or removed from it as they travel through the nephron.

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  Fig.6) This picture shows tiny connecting tubes (a) and larger ones (b) inside the kidney.

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  This image shows how blood vessels are spread out in the outer part of the kidney.

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  A close-up view of kidney tissue.

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  A detailed look at the glomerulus, where blood filtering begins.

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  This image shows the different types of cells found in the glomerulus part of a kidney nephron, like podocytes and endothelial cells.

See also

In Spanish: Nefrona para niños