Figure 2.

Peritubular microvasculature in the kidney. Arterial blood is delivered to glomerular capillaries in cortical nephrons (90% of total nephrons) and juxtamedullary nephrons (10% of total nephrons) via arcuate artery (labeled as 1), interlobular artery (labeled as 2), and afferent arteriole (labeled as 3). Afferent arterioles occasionally create a periglomerular shunt (indicated with an arrow) but are mostly connected with capillaries in glomeruli without shunting. Efferent arterioles (labeled as 4) in juxtamedullary nephrons construct vascular bundle (labeled as 5) to supply arterial blood for interbundle dense capillary plexus (PTC) and DVR. Venous blood returns to AVR and vascular bundle (labeled as 6) via interbundle dense capillary plexus or sparse capillary plexus. In cortical nephrons, efferent arterioles construct PTC without branches of vasa recta.