What is glomerulus ?

Question

what exactly is it ?

Answer 1

A network of blood capillary that forms the basis of filtration of blood in the nephron.

Answer 2

The glomerulus is part of the tiny filtration unit of the kidney, the nephron.

A blood vessel (an arteriole) goes to the nephron and branches into a ball of capillaries, the glomerulus.  The blood vessels are surrounded by a ball shaped capsule ... sort of like if you had a huge, soft round balloon and you pushed your fist into the balloon.  Your fist is the glomerulus and the balloon represents the glomerular capsule. Normally, blood pressure is reduced when blood vessels branch.  However, in the glomerulus, blood pressure increases (the only place in the body this occurs).  With the increased pressure, water from the blood, along with dissolved metabolic wastes and minerals, is forced out of the blood.

This essentially is where the filtration or cleansing of the blood occurs.

Take a peek at the following website to get an idea of the structure of the nephron and its glomerulus:

http://www.unckidneycenter.org/images/gl...

http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art....

http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=...

Answer 3

it's a cluster of blood vessels (or a term for a cluster of nerves)