Library · Anatomy
Renal cortex
Make it clearer
The renal cortex is the kidney's outer layer, not its inside. More precisely, it is the outer portion of the renal parenchyma, the tissue that does the kidney's work, which is divided into two zones: the cortex on the outside and the medulla on the inside.
Most of the nephron lives in the cortex. The nephron is the functional unit of the kidney, the piece that repeats throughout the whole organ. There you find the renal corpuscles, the proximal and distal convoluted tubules (stretches of coiled tube), the collecting tubules and the cortical collecting ducts.
The renal corpuscle is the glomerulus, a tangle of capillaries, wrapped in Bowman's capsule, a pouch that surrounds it. It sits in the cortex, and that is where the glomerular ultrafiltrate forms, the fluid that seeps out of the blood.
In brief
The renal cortex is the outer portion of the kidney's parenchyma, which is divided into cortex and medulla.
It is the kidney's outer layer, not its inside.
It holds most of the components of the nephron: the renal corpuscles, the proximal and distal convoluted tubules, the collecting tubules and the cortical collecting ducts.
The renal corpuscle, the glomerulus surrounded by Bowman's capsule, sits in the cortex, and that is where the glomerular ultrafiltrate is formed.
Sources (2)
- National Center for Biotechnology Information, StatPearls PublishingAnatomy, Abdomen and Pelvis: Kidneys, StatPearlsPublished
- National Center for Biotechnology Information, StatPearls PublishingHistology, Nephron, StatPearlsPublished
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