Lecture 6: Renal Flashcards
What does the kidney regulate?
Water/electrolyte balance
Fluid/osmolality
Arterial BP
Acid-base Balance
Erythrocyte production
Hormone secretion, metabolism, and excretion
How does the kidney regulate our electrolytes/water?
Excretion of metabolic products
Excretion/retention of water/electrolytes
How does the kidney regulate blood pressure?
Excreting/retaining water/sodium
Renin and angiotensin II
How does the kidney regulate our acid-base balance?
Excreting acids and/or bicarb
Note:
Think metabolic acidosis/alkalosis
How does our kidney regulate our RBC production?
It can secrete erythropoeitin when we are hypoxic.
Where is the hilum found in a kidney and what is it?
It is found on the medial side of each kidney, and it is the indented region that contains the renal artery/vein, lymphatics, nerves, and ureter.
What are the 3 main layers/sections of the kidney?
Superficial to deep:
Outer cortex
Inner Medulla
Renal pelvis
What structure is found in the medulla of the kidneys?
Renal pyramids, about 8-10, which terminate in the papilla.
What are the extensions of the renal pelvis?
Major calices, which have minor calices.
A minor calyx connects to a renal pyramid.
A major calyx connects multiple minor calices.
What is the basic unit of the kidney?
Nephrons, about 1 million per kidney.
About how much blood does our kidney get?
22% of our entire CO
1100 mL/min
How does arterial blood supply branch off in the kidney?
Starts with the:
Renal artery
Segmental arteries
InterLOBAR arteries
Arcuate arteries
InterLOBULAR arteries
Note: Lobules are smaller than lobes, so they are the last branching.
How does the blood supply of a single nephron work?
Arcuate arteries give off interlobular arteries, which have tiny branches called afferent arterioles. These afferent arterioles go to glomeruli and leave via efferent arterioles.
Peritubular capillaries are found along the loops, and are connecting the veins and arteries.
What are the two capillary beds of a nephron?
Glomerular capillaries
Peritubular capillaries
What kind of pressure does a glomerular capillary have?
High hydrostatic pressure, which encourages rapid fluid FILTRATION.
What kind of pressure does a peritubular capillary have?
Low hydrostatic pressure, which encourages rapid fluid REABSORPTION.
What separates the glomerular capillary from the peritubular capillary?
EFFERENT arterioles.
Note:
E for exit. Exiting the glomerulus.
How do the kidneys control the hydrostatic pressures of both capillary beds?
By adjusting afferent and efferent arteriole pressures.
What is the average pressure of a glomerular capillary?
60 mm Hg (high hydrostatic pressure)
What structure encases a glomerulus?
Bowman’s Capsule.
Describe fluid as it leaves the glomerulus.
Fluid will be filtered out of the glomerular capsule, going into the surrounding Bowman’s capsule and then into the PCT.
What parts of the loop of Henle are thin? thick?
The descending and lower loop is thin.
Once it is halfway up ascending, it becomes thicker.
Where do I find the macula densa?
End of the thick ASCENDING limb, which is essentially next to Bowman’s capsule again.
Name the parts of the nephron, beginning at the glomerulus.
Glomerulus (Cortex)
Bowman’s capsule (Cortex)
Proximal Tubule (Cortex)
Descending thin loop of Henle (Medulla)
Ascending thin loop of Henle (Medulla)
Ascending thick loop of Henle (Medulla)
Distal tubule (Cortex)
Connecting tubule (Cortex)
Cortical collecting duct (Cortex)
Medullary collecting tubule (Medulla)
Medullary collecting duct (Medulla)
What key differences define a cortical nephron?
Glomeruli in outer cortex.
Loops of Henle are short, they barely get into the medulla.
Their vascular structure is composed of peritubular capillaries surrounding the entire structure.
What key differences define a juxtamedullary nephron?
Their glomeruli are very close to the outer medullary zone.
Loops of Henle are very long, dipping deep into the medulla.
Their peritubular capillaries are very long, known as vasa recta.
What are afferent arterioles branches off of?
InterLOBULAR arteries.
What 4 processes are involved in concentrating urine?
Filtration
Reabsorption
Secretion
Excretion
Where does filtration occur?
Glomerular capillaries, which go into Bowman’s capsule.
What is reabsorption?
Water and solutes going back into the BLOOD.
What is secretion?
Peritubular capillaries sending substances into the tubules (aka the urine)
What is excretion?
Excretion = Filtration - Reabsorption + Secretion.
Note:
Reabsorption is the only thing that takes stuff OUT of the tubules.
What substance in our body is solely filtered?
Creatinine.
What substances in our body are filtrated and/or reabsorbed?
Electrolytes
Note:
They get reabsorbed, but NOT completely.
What substances in our body get filtered but not excreted?
Amino acids and glucose.
Note: They get reabsorbed completely.
What substances are freely filtered and secreted?
Organic acids and bases
Note:
Stuff that should be renally cleared ASAP.
0 Reabsorption.
What are the end products of metabolism that we suck at reabsorbing?
Urea
Creatinine
Uric acid
Note:
AKA everything we find in large concentrations in our urine.
If a substance has poor reabsorption, would I expect a high or low excretion rate?
High.
Note:
Poor reabsorption means we are bad at getting it BACK INTO the body.
What is the main role of secretion?
Determining how many H+ and K+ we excrete in our urine.
What electrolytes have high reabsorption rates?
Sodium, Chloride, and Bicarb.
Note:
This is why we see LOW amts of these in our urine.
Name some substances we filter in large amts, but are reabsorbed completely.
Glucose and amino acids.
Note:
In a normal urine sample, we should not see any glucose or AAs in it.
What does High GFR imply?
Rapid removal of waste. We can filter our body fluid faster and more times a day.
Note:
We filter our 3L of plasma 60 times a day.
GFR = 180L/day.
What substance are glomerular capillaries IMPERMEABLE to?
Proteins!
What is glomerular filtrate composed of?
Should be identical to plasma concentration EXCEPT:
No proteins
No RBCs
Low calcium & fatty acids (protein bound)
What forces contribute to GFR?
Hydrostatic forces
Colloid osmotic forces
Capillary filtration coefficient
What is the capillary filtration coefficient determined by?
It is the product of how permeable the capillary membrane is and the surface area available for filtration.
What is special about glomerular capillary membranes?
It has 3 layers.
Each layer is negatively charged, which repels proteins.
Each layer is thicker but more permeable, depending on a substances charge and size.
What are the 3 layers of the filtration barrier?
Endothelium, made of fenestrations and negative charges to repel proteins.
Basement membrane, a meshwork of collagen that has large fenestrations for water and small solutes.
Epithelial cells (Podocytes), lining the outer surface of the glomerulus. They have foot-like processes separated by slit pores (gaps), which filtrate can move through)
What substances are freely filtered?
Freely filtered means filtered as much as water.
Water, sodium, glucose, and inulin.
What substances are not freely filtered?
Myoglobin, Albumin (extremely poor filterability)
What is filterability of a solute related to?
It is inversely proportional to its size.
AKA the bigger the solute, the WORSE the filterability.
How do I determine the net filtration pressure?
It is the sum of hydrostatic pressure and colloid osmotic forces.
Net filtration pressure (10 mm Hg) = Glomerular hydrostatic pressure (60 mm Hg) - Bowman’s capsule pressure (18 mm Hg) - Glomerular colloid osmotic pressure (32 mm Hg)
Note:
Glomerular hydrostatic is pushing fluid out of the glomerulus.
Bowman’s capsule surrounds a glomerulus, so its hydrostatic pressure pushes fluid back into the glomerulus.
Colloid osmotic means the protein’s pull on water, so the albumin is drawing water back into the glomerulus.
What does AT2 do to glomerular arterioles and therefore glomerular pressure?
Constriction of BOTH afferent and efferent arterioles. It constricts efferent arterioles more though.
This increases pressure within the glomerulus, which increases GFR (it is increasing hydrostatic pressure).
Note:
ACEI cause dilation of efferent arterioles, which is why they drop your GFR and can lead to possible acute renal failure.
What does an increase in the filtration coefficient do to GFR?
Increases GFR.
Note:
Filtration coefficient is Kf.
How does kidney disease affect Kf?
It lowers it via two ways:
Lowering number of functional glomerular capillaries (aka lower surface area)
Increases membrane thickness. (Uncontrolled HTN or DM)
What does an increase in Bowman’s capsule hydrostatic pressure do to GFR?
It decreases it.
GFR is going out of the glomerulus, but because Bowman’s capsule surrounds the glomerulus, its hydrostatic pressure pushes stuff back in.
What is a common cause of increased Bowman’s capsule pressure?
Obstruction of the urinary tract via stones (calcium or uric acid)
This causes drops in GFR, and can damage/destroy the kidney eventually.
What does a greater rate of blood flow into the glomerulus do to GFR?
Increases GFR.
What 3 pressures can affect glomerular hydrostatic pressure?
Arterial BP
Afferent arteriole pressure
Efferent arteriole pressure
What does increased arterial BP do to GFR?
Increases it, because it increases glomerular hydrostatic pressure.
What does increased afferent arteriole resistance do to GFR?
Decreases it, because it reduces glomerular hydrostatic pressure.
Note:
I think of it as less fluid going in, so there is less fluid to push against the edges.
What does increased efferent arteriole resistance do to GFR?
Increases it, because it increases glomerular hydrostatic pressure.
Note:
If it gets too high, renal blood flow is reduced, which will actually cause a lowered GFR.
What is renal arterial pressure usually the same as?
Systemic arterial pressure.
Where do I find the most resistance in the kidney’s arteries?
Interlobular arteries
Afferent arterioles
Efferent arterioles
(aka the 3 smallest arteries)
What systems control efferent arteriole resistance?
SNS
Hormones
Local, internal renal control mechanisms.
Does a change in systemic arterial pressure greatly affect renal blood flow?
No. The kidneys generally auto-regulate themselves to maintain pressure and GFR between 80-170 mm Hg.
What does strong SNS stimulation do to the kidney and arterioles?
Constriction of renal arterioles, decreasing blood flow and GFR.
Note:
Requires STRONG SNS stimulation.
When SNS is activated, you generally don’t pee, so kidney function must decrease.
What 3 hormones affect renal blood flow and what is their effect?
NE, epi, and endothelin.
Constriction of renal blood vessels, decreasing blood flow and therefore GFR. (only happens under extreme conditions like massive hemorrhaging)
Note:
Endothelin is released by damaged vascular endothelial cells, not well-understood.
What does AT2 do?
Constriction of all kidney arterioles EXCEPT pre-glomerular ones, aka afferent arterioles.
Efferent arterioles are highly sensitive to it, so they will constrict heavily. This reduces renal blood flow a little, but it can increase glomerular hydrostatic pressure a lot and therefore GFR.
Why don’t afferent arterioles get affected by AT2?
Lack of receptors
Nitric oxide and prostaglandins also prevent its constriction.
When does AT2 generally get activated?
Low arterial BP
Volume depletion
How does AT2 affect renal blood flow?
Decreases flow to peritubular capillaries, causing us to reabsorb more Na and water to restore our BP.