Tiny tufts of capillaries which carry blood within the kidneys. The blood is filtered by the glomeruli. The blood then continues through the circulatory system, but a certain amount of fluid and specific waste products are filtered out of the blood, to be removed from the body in the form of urine. Also: Glomerulus

	Alport Syndrome The Condition "Alport Syndrome is an inherited disease that affects the glomeruli, the tiny blood vessels within the kidneys that filter the blood of its wastes..." Related Topic "...It causes chronic glomerulonephritis with destruction of the glomeruli (the tiny blood vessels within the kidneys that filter the blood) and eventually progresses to end-stage renal disease at an early age..." Relationship to Chronic Renal Insufficiency "...This means that the glomeruli undergo a gradual but persistent process of destruction, leading to kidney failure in many cases..." Glomerulonephritis The Condition "Glomerulonephritis refers to the condition in which the glomeruli (tiny filters in your kidney which help clean the blood) become inflamed and are unable to carry out their filtering functions..." Related Topic "Inflammation of glomerulus..." Relationship to Chronic Renal Insufficiency "With about a million glomeruli in each kidney, there is an ample reserve of kidney function, and a person can go many years or even decades without feeling the effects of renal failure..." Recommendation Tobacco Avoidance "There is steadily increasing evidence that smoking directly contributes to damaging the delicate blood vessels that form the glomeruli, even in people who do not have a chronic kidney disease..." Kidneys Related Topic "...In a nephron, a glomerulus -- which is a tiny blood vessel, or capillary -- intertwines with a tiny urine-collecting tube called a tubule..." Nephrotic Syndrome The Condition "Nephrotic syndrome is a collection of symptoms which occur because the tiny blood vessels (the glomeruli) in the kidney become leaky..." Urinalysis As A Treatment "...Normally, only small plasma proteins filtered at the glomerulus are reabsorbed by the renal tubule..."

Last updated: Aug 15, 2009