Inside the Kidney

THE LIVING SYSTEMWhole body · anterior viewDrag to orbit · scroll to zoom · click a structure

Body outline Rib / spine landmarks Labels Arterial blood Venous blood Urine

Anatomy-inspired 3D teaching model, not a medical atlas. Surrounding organs and much of the circulation are omitted; colours and scale transitions are explanatory. Blue is a convention for venous blood. Paths are simplified and flow is slowed.

EXPLORE · LOCATE · EXPLAIN

One body. Connected systems.

Find the kidneys towards the back of the abdomen. Rotate the body to see their relationship to the spine, blood vessels and bladder. Select a label or a structure to inspect it.

Your challenge: trace how a substance in blood can eventually leave the body in urine.

Reading the model

Body left appears on your right in the anterior view. Kidneys lie behind the abdominal lining; the right kidney is usually slightly lower. Cutaway highlights cortex, medullary pyramids and the collecting region; individual nephrons are too small to resolve here.

NIDDK · kidney structure and function

CORTEX / TISSUE VIEWIllustrative cellular model

Drag to orbit. Move closer to inspect the tightly packed tissue.

A JOURNEY ACROSS SCALES

This time, the tissue surrounds you.

Explore the spaces between tubules, enter a blood vessel, and magnify the structures that separate blood from filtrate.

Drag to look around; use Move closer and Move back.
Select a label to inspect a structure.
Choose a prediction, then start motion to test it.

Changing stations switches scale or compartment. It does not imply that blood cells cross the filter. Colours, distances and animation times are illustrative; this is not microscopy footage.