Kidneys Flashcards
What is the main role of kidneys
To act as filters to clean the blood
How do the kidneys make urine
By taking waste products out of your blood
What is filtration
Substances are filtered out of the blood as they pass through the kidneys
What is selective reabsorption
When useful substances like glucose ions and right amounts of water are absorbed back into the blood
What substances are removed by the body through urine
Urea
Ions
Water
What is deamination
The process that excess amino acids go through when they are converted into fats and carbohydrates to be stored which occurs in the liver
What waste product is produce from deamination
Ammonia
What is ammonia converted into
Urea in the liver
Where is urea transported to after converting from ammonia
Into the kidneys where it is filtered out of the blood and excreted from the body in urine
Why are some ions removed from the body in urine
Because the right amount of ions need to be regulated so there is the right balance of water and ions otherwise too much to too little water can be drawn into the cells by osmosis
What happens to ions after filtration
The right amount of ions are reabsorbed into the blood and the rest is removed from the body by urine
How is the amount of water balanced
By the amount we consume and the amount removed by the kidneys in urine
What is the hormone that controls the concentration of urine
Anti-diuretic hormone
What releases the anti-diuretic hormone into the blood stream
The pituitary gland
What system controls water content
Negative feedback
How does the negative feedback system work to control the water content
A receptor in brain detects the water content is too high or low
The coordination centre in brain receives info and coordinates response
The pituitary gland releases more or less ADH, so less or more water is reabsorbed from the kidney
What happens if the kidneys don’t work properly
They won’t remove waste products from the blood so it will build up in the blood and you’ll lose the ability to control the levels of ions and water in your body
What are the 2 treatments for kidney failure
Dialysis machines that filter the blood
Kidney transplants
What happens to the persons blood in a dialysis machine
Their blood flows between a partially permeable membrane that is surrounded by dialysis fluid
The ions and waster products in the blood will diffuse out of the dialysis fluid and the rest of the blood will go back to person
What are the disadvantages of dialysis
Dialysis sessions are 3times a week for 3/4 hours
Can cause blood clots or infections
Expensive
What is the risk of having a transplant
The kidney can be rejected by the patients immune system
