Nephron Loss and Compensatory Hyperfiltration in Chronic Kidney Disease

Chronic kidney disease is not simply nephrons dying off one at a time at a constant rate — it is a feedback loop. As a population of nephrons shrinks, the survivors raise their own filtration rate to compensate, and that very compensation places them under a glomerular capillary hypertension that hastens their own sclerosis, in turn forcing the remaining nephrons to hyperfilter even harder. This simulator renders both kidneys as a live 3D population of nephron units and drives them through that exact feedback: adjust the strength of an underlying insult such as diabetes or hypertension, the sensitivity of the hyperfiltration-injury cycle, and simulated RAAS-blockade therapy, then watch total GFR, the CKD stage, and the fraction of surviving nephrons evolve in real time.