What Is the Distal Convoluted Tubule?
A distal convoluted tubule is a twisted, tube-like structure about 0.2 inches (around 5 mm) in length, found inside a part of the kidney known as a nephron. Each kidney contains many nephrons, and these are the functional units in which blood is filtered to form urine. One nephron is made up of a renal corpuscle, containing tiny blood vessels where blood is filtered, and a renal tubule. A renal tubule consists of three different sections, which carry the filtered fluid, or filtrate, away from the kidney while processing it to create urine. The distal convoluted tubule is the section farthest away from the renal corpuscle, and the cells that line it are able to actively pump potentially harmful substances, such as ammonia, urea and certain drugs, out of the blood and into the urine.
