Question

How can I tell Bowman's capsule and renal corpuscle apart?

Answer 1

Hint: The renal corpuscle is the part of the nephron while the Bowman’s capsule is one part of the renal corpuscle itself.

Complete answer:
The nephron is the structural and functional unit of the kidney. The nephron has two important parts: renal corpuscle and renal tubule. The renal corpuscle consists of a bunch of capillaries called glomerulus and a bowman’s capsule surrounding it.

Bowman’s capsule is the cup-like part at the starting of the tubular component of the nephron. The first step of the urine formation i.e. filtration occurs in this part. The glomerulus is the tuft of capillaries that is enclosed in a cup-like sac of Bowman’s capsule. It has small slits or pores which allows the solutes to pass through it. All the constituents of the plasmas i.e. water, ions, waste produce (urea), and glucose pass into the nephron. The solution entering the nephron is called the ultrafiltrate. While all other proteins and blood cells that cannot pass the membrane remain in the blood.

The blood enters the glomerulus through the afferent arteriole and leaves through the efferent arteriole. The diameter of the afferent arteriole is more than the efferent arteriole which results in the development of a pressure gradient in the glomerulus. The pressure gradient forces the fluid in the blood to get filtered from the bunch of capillaries in the glomerulus.

Note: The capsule and the capillary tuft together form the corpuscle.The solution entering the nephron is called the ultrafiltrate. While all other proteins and blood cells that cannot pass the membrane remain in the blood.