[citation needed] It is a major site for blood filtration (including glomerulus) Any proteins under roughly 30 kilodaltons can pass freely through the membrane, although there is some extra hindrance for negatively charged molecules due to the negative charge of the basement membrane and the podocytes.

[citation needed] Any small molecules such as water, glucose, salt (NaCl), amino acids, and urea pass freely into Bowman's space, but cells, platelets and large proteins do not.

[citation needed] Measuring the glomerular filtration rate (GFR) is a diagnostic test of kidney function.

[4] However, thorough microscopical anatomy of kidney including the nephronic capsule was first described by a Ukrainian surgeon and anatomist from the Russian Empire, Prof. Alexander Schumlansky (1748–1795), in his 1782 doctoral thesis "De structura renum" ("About Kidney Structure", in Latin); thus, much prior to Bowman.

This name is not used widely anymore, probably to avoid confusion with Malpighian bodies of the spleen.