Why are proteins not removed by nephrons in the kidney?

1 Answer
Apr 3, 2018

too large

Explanation:

in the nephrons of the kidney, the glomerulus filters blood to produce glomerular filtrate.

the filtrate contains salts, water, amino acids, glucose and urea.

these can be filtered from the blood since they are small enough to fit through the walls of the blood capillaries.

however, proteins are too large to fit through the capillary walls, so they cannot be filtered out of the blood.

if the kidneys are functioning properly, then the nephrons never remove proteins, hence why they are not found in the urine of a healthy person.