Podocyte disorders: Core Curriculum 2011.

There are approximately one million glomeruli in each human kidney. Each glomerulus is composed of a tuft of capillary loops supported by the mesangium and enclosed in a pouchlike extension of the renal tubule of the nephron known as Bowman’s capsule. The glomerulus consists of four resident cell types, the mesangial cell, the glomerular endothelial cell, the visceral epithelial cell (podocyte), and the parietal epithelial cell lining Bowman’s basement membrane. Recent experimental and clinical advances have identified the podocyte as the predominant cell of injury in glomerular diseases typified by heavy proteinuria, which is the focus of this article.