The juxtaglomerular apparatus is a microscopic structure in the kidney, which regulates the function of each nephron. The juxtaglomerular apparatus is named for its proximity to the glomerulus: it is found between the vascular pole of the renal corpuscle and the returning Distal Convoluted Tubule of the same nephron. This location is critical to its function in regulating renal blood flow and glomerular filtration rate. The three cellular components of the apparatus are the macula densa of the distal convoluted tubule, smooth muscle cells of the afferent arteriole and juxtaglomerular cells.
Read more about Juxtaglomerular Apparatus: Cells of The Juxtaglomerular Apparatus
Famous quotes containing the word apparatus:
“It is part of the nature of consciousness, of how the mental apparatus works, that free reason is only a very occasional function of people’s “thinking” and that much of the process is made of reactions as standardized as those of the keys on a typewriter.”
—John Dos Passos (1896–1970)