URINARY SYSTEM II

Histology 2016-2017
Department of Anatomy &Histology: Dr.Rajaa Ali
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URINARY SYSTEM II
Renal Corpuscle (Malpighian Corpuscle; Fig. )
Renal corpuscle is responsible for fi ltration of blood (glomerular fi ltrate).
It is present in the cortex and measures 200 ?m in diameter.
It is made of two components, namely, Bowman’s capsule and glomerulus.
Bowman’s capsule is the blind distended end of the nephron, which is converted into a cup-shaped structure by invagination of a tuft of capillaries, the glomerulus. Thus Bowman’s capsule has two layers, an outer parietal and an inner visceral separated by a space, the Bowman’s space.
The parietal layer is made of simple squamous epithelium, the capsular epithelium, which becomes continuous with the cuboidal epithelial lining of PCT at the urinary pole of the corpuscle.
The visceral layer that invests the glomerular capillaries is made of specialised epithelial cells (glomerular epithelium) called podocytes, which become continuous with the parietal layer at the vascular pole of the corpuscle.
Thus, the renal corpuscle has a vascular pole through which the afferent and efferent arterioles enter and leave and an urinary pole from which PCT arises.