The diagram given below is that of a structure present in a human kidney. Study the same and answer the questions that follow: The diagram given below is that of a structure present in a human kidney. Study the same and answer the questions that follow:
Name the structure represented in the diagram.
Topic: Nephron
Answer
The NEPHRON (uriniferous tubule, renal tubule or kidney tubule).
The nephron is the STRUCTURAL AND FUNCTIONAL UNIT of the kidney — the smallest part that can carry out the whole job of forming urine. Each kidney contains about a million of them.
Identify it in a diagram by its distinctive shape: a cup (Bowman’s capsule) containing a knot of capillaries (glomerulus), leading into a coiled tubule with a long hairpin loop (the loop of Henle).
Compare the NEURON, the structural and functional unit of the nervous system — nePHron for the kidney, neUron for the nerve.