Choose the correct answer from the four options given below:
The structural and functional units of excretion in the human kidney is:
Topic: Nephron
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Answer
(d) Nephron.
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.
The phrase STRUCTURAL AND FUNCTIONAL UNIT is what decides the question: BOWMAN’S CAPSULE is only a PART of a nephron, where ultrafiltration occurs. It cannot complete the process alone. URETER and RENAL PELVIS are not units at all — they collect and carry urine after it has been made.
A complete nephron consists of the MALPIGHIAN CAPSULE (Bowman’s capsule plus glomerulus) and the RENAL TUBULE with its proximal convoluted tubule, loop of Henle and distal convoluted tubule.
Compare the NEURON, the structural and functional unit of the nervous system — the two words look alike and papers ask you to distinguish them.
Nephron.