In the kidney, a tubular structure called the nephron filters blood to form urine. At the beginning of the nephron, the glomerulus /ɡlɒˈmɛrələs/ is a network (tuft) of capillaries that performs the first step of filtering blood.
The glomerulus is surrounded by Bowman's capsule. The blood is filtered through the capillaries of the glomerulus into the Bowman's capsule. The Bowman's capsule empties the filtrate into a tubule that is also part of the nephron.
A glomerulus receives its blood supply from an afferent arteriole of the renal circulation. Unlike most other capillary beds, the glomerulus drains into an efferent arteriole rather than a venule. The resistance of these arterioles results in high pressure within the glomerulus, aiding the process of ultrafiltration, where fluids and soluble materials in the blood are forced out of the capillaries and into Bowman's capsule.
A glomerulus and its surrounding Bowman's capsule constitute a renal corpuscle, the basic filtration unit of the kidney. The rate at which blood is filtered through all of the glomeruli, and thus the measure of the overall renal function, is the glomerular filtration rate (GFR).
Read more about Glomerulus: Afferent Circulation, Layers, Selectivity, Efferent Circulation, Juxtaglomerular Cells, Additional Images