What is a Kidney?
The kidneys are two small organs located towards the back of the abdomen, close to the base of the rib cage. There is one at each side, the left kidney being slightly higher than the right. Their function is to remove waste products from the blood and so regulate salts, minerals and fluid levels in the body.
The kidneys are oval structures, red/brown in color with a tube called the ureter that runs down from each kidney to the base of the bladder. The renal aorta, branching from the aorta from the heart, brings oxygenated blood to them and the renal vein takes deoxygenated blood away. There are two main parts to the structure of the inside of the kidney, the inner known as the medulla and the outer known as the cortex. The renal artery carrying oxygenated blood to the kidney, branches through the medulla and then divides in to many arterioles and capillaries inside the cortex. Here, the tiny capillaries branch further and form coils, with each coil surrounded by structures called the Bowman’s capsule. The Bowman’s capsule is a cup like structure that leads to small tubules that pass back through the cortex of the kidney into the medulla, and finally join the ureter that exits the kidney and leads down to the bladder.
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