glomerulus

American  

[gloh-mer-yuh-luhs, gluh-] / gloʊˈmɛr yə ləs, glə- /

noun

Anatomy.

plural

glomeruli

1. a compact cluster of capillaries.

2. Also called Malpighian tuft.  a tuft of convoluted capillaries in the nephron of a kidney, functioning to remove certain substances from the blood before it flows into the convoluted tubule.

---

glomerulus British  

/ ɡlɒˈmɛrʊləs /

noun

1. a knot of blood vessels in the kidney projecting into the capsular end of a urine-secreting tubule

2. any cluster or coil of blood vessels, nerve fibres, etc, in the body

---

glomerulus Scientific  

/ glō-mĕr′yə-ləs /

plural

glomeruli

1. A knot of highly permeable capillaries located within the Bowman's capsule of a nephron. Waste products are filtered from the blood in the glomerulus, initiating the process of urine formation.

---

Other Word Forms

• glomerular adjective

Etymology

Origin of glomerulus

1855–60; < New Latin, equivalent to Latin glomer- (stem of glomus ) ball-shaped mass + -ulus -ule

Example Sentences

Juxtamedullary nephrons have a smaller glomerulus, allowing them to filter blood at a greater rate than cortical nephrons.

From Textbooks • Jun. 9, 2022

Within the glomerulus, the network of capillaries is called the glomerular capillary bed.

From Textbooks • Jun. 9, 2022

Juxtamedullary nephrons have a larger glomerulus, allowing them to filter blood at a greater rate than cortical nephrons.

From Textbooks • Jun. 9, 2022

First, the nephrons filter blood that runs through the capillary network in the glomerulus, which filters out almost all solutes, except for proteins, by glomerular filtration.

From Textbooks • Jun. 9, 2022

Within the nephron the blood comes in intimate contact with the waste-collecting tubules in a structure called the glomerulus.

From Textbooks • Apr. 25, 2013