Word: glomeruli
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...flow to the kidneys by as much as 50%. But the kidneys continue to work at the same rate and apparently filter more protein out of a smaller volume of blood. Exercise also seems to cause constriction of the efferent arterioles, the vessels that lead out of the glomeruli, the kidney's filtration units. The result is a backup that increases pressure in the glomeruli and makes them more permeable, allowing proteins and blood cells to pass through the glomerular membranes and ultimately into the urine...
Each kidney contains a million filtration units called nephrons. Each nephron is made up of a tuft of microscopic blood vessels, called a glomerulus, and each of these has a minute tubule at tached (see diagram, right). When blood flows into the glomeruli and around the tubules, one-fifth of its water content is led aside for finer filtration. One hundredth part of this is extracted and passes eventually to the bladder...
...heart disease. Of 19 other identical-twin transplants, 17 made a good start. But over the years, three patients have died of recurrent kidney disease. "So now we know," says Dr. Moore, "that the critical factor is glomerulonephritis [a form of kidney inflammation involving the small capillary loops or glomeruli], and that these people have a tendency to get the same disease again, and it attacks the transplanted kidney...
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