title: How does the kidney filter plasma?
abstract: The kidneys filter the plasma in special filtration units-glomeruli-and thereby excrete low-molecular-weight waste products into the urine. The mechanisms of glomerular filtration have been a matter of controversy for several decades, but recent data have revealed new details about the molecular nature of the filter and have demonstrated a central role for the podocyte slit diaphragm in the filtration process.
authors.affiliation: Division of Matrix Biology, Department of Medical Biochemistry and Biophysics, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden. karl.tryggvason@mbb.ki.se
authors.forename: Karl
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tryggvason
authors.forename: Jorma
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wartiovaara
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D006801:Humans; D007678:Kidney Glomerulus / Q000166:cytology* / Q000502:physiology*; D010949:Plasma; D011507:Proteinuria / Q000503:physiopathology*; D014462:Ultrafiltration