FILTRATION UNDER THE MICROSCOPE
© Getty
This image looks like an ultraviolet bonsai tree, but it’s actually the glomeruli of a kidney. This is a loop of capillaries that twists into a ball shape and is the site of ultrafiltration of blood. These structures in the kidneys are typically surrounded by a group of cells called the Bowman’s capsule, which has been removed from this image. The function of each glomerulus bundle is to filter out waste products from the blood, which has been delivered by arteries called arterioles. That waste is then transported as a liquid to the bladder via a tube called the ureter and eventually evicted from the body in urine. This image was taken using a coloured scanning electron microscope (SEM) with the glomeruli cast in a polymer resin.