the Kidney Glomeruli

Sculpting an Immersive Environment of Kidney Glomeruli

The core of a glomerulus is composed of a spherical cluster of convoluted, looping capillaries. These capillaries are covered by an interdigitating layer of podocyte cells. The entire spherical mass is enclosed within the Bowman’s capsule. Waste derived from the blood stream is excreted from the capillaries, passes through filtration slits between the podocyte ‘fingers’ and into the glomerular space within the capsule. The urine droplets then coalesce and leave the glomerulus via the proximal tubule.

The challenge in creating this 3D illustration was to imagine and then sculpt an immersive and atmospheric window into the environment of the kidney glomeruli.

The illustration incorporates a dramatic magnified view of one of the glomeruli to show the extraordinary anatomical structure responsible for filtering our bodies of waste derived from the blood stream.