Blood flow through the kidneys

Renal artery

The renal artery carries the blood supply to the kidney – we know that the blood supply to the kidney has been pumped from the heart and that arteries take blood away from the heart. We also know the kidney is the renal system, hence renal artery.

The renal artery is the main artery that brings oxygenated blood to the kidney

Blood is pumped through the renal system from the heart

Think of a crowd of people flowing into a regal art gallery (renal artery).

Afferent arteriole

The blood then goes through smaller arteries and reaches the afferent arteriole, a tiny vessel which take blood into a cluster of capillaries – miniscule blood vessels.

The afferent arteriole is a tiny capillary that carries blood from the renal artery to minuscule blood vessels

Blood from the renal artery enters the nephron filtration system through this tiny blood vessel

There are many affluent people (afferent arteriole) among the crowd attending the gallery.

Glomerulus

The cluster of capillaries is called the glomerulus. This is where substances from the blood, including urea, glucose, salts and water, are squeezed out through tiny holes in the vessels into Bowman’s capsule, to begin their journey along the tubules as described previously.

The glomerulus is a network of tiny capillaries that squeezes out all substances of the blood other than red blood cells

All substances squeezed out of the tiny holes are gathered in the bowman's capsule

Each affluent person at the art gallery is holding a glamorous cat – a glamour puss (glomerulus).

Efferent arteriole

The blood vessel that takes blood away from the glomerulus is the efferent arteriole.

The efferent arteriole carries the red blood cells from the glomerulus

The efferent arteriole carries filtered blood through to the system

There are so many cats that there is loads of effluent in the art gallery (efferent arteriole).