title: Functional anatomy of the kidney.
abstract: Initiating a new series of articles on renal function in health and disease, this article describes the ultrastructure of the kidney's basic unit, the nephron, as revealed in recent years by transmission and scanning electron microscopy. With greater appreciation of its morphology and cellular architecture has come new understanding of the functional relationships among the nephron's individual components.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000648:ultrastructure; D002463:Cell Membrane Permeability; D004727:Endothelium / Q000648:ultrastructure; D006801:Humans; D007606:Juxtaglomerular Apparatus; D007668:Kidney / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D007678:Kidney Glomerulus / Q000648:ultrastructure; D007686:Kidney Tubules, Distal / Q000648:ultrastructure; D007687:Kidney Tubules, Proximal / Q000648:ultrastructure; D008138:Loop of Henle / Q000648:ultrastructure; D009399:Nephrons / Q000378:metabolism / Q000648:ultrastructure*