How Do Human Kidneys Function?
The Nephron The basic functioning unit of the human kidney is the nephron. The kidney consists of over 1 million nephrons that carry out the vital functions of the kidney. The nephron consists of two components; the glomerulus, which is the vascular side of the filtering system, and the renal tubule, which is the urinary side of the filtering system. The nephron is responsible for the filtration of the blood after it enters the renal artery, which branches into tiny arteries to form the nephron. The nephron is also responsible for selecting the substances that the body will use and reabsorbing them. The nephron sorts through the good and bad substances, filters out the bad and reabsorbs the good. The bad, which are the wastes that the body cannot use, is excreted to start the formation of urine. Urine is what remains after the removal of wastes from the blood, resorption of water, nutrients, ammonia and after the nephron break downs drug products. After this process of resorption and r
