Osmoregulation Flashcards
Osmoregulation
The control of water and solute balance.
Main osmoregulatory organs
Gills, kidneys and intestines.
What do water and ion exchanges occur between?
External and internal fluids.
Internal fluids that exchanges occur in?
Interstitial fluid, extracellular fluid, plasma and intracellular fluid.
Osmosis
Diffusion of water through a semi-permeable membrane.
Osmotic pressure
Pressure that must be applied to prevent osmotic movement across a semi-permeable membrane.
Hypotonic blood
Less than 275mOs.
Isotonic blood
300mOs.
Hypertonic blood
Greater than 300mOs.
What happens to hypotonic blood?
RBCs bloat and explode, leaving RBC ghosts.
What happens to hypertonic blood?
RBCs shrivel.
Seawater osmotic pressure
1000mOs.
Freshwater osmotic pressure
<5mOs.
Osmoconformer
An organism that allows its internal concentration of salts to change in order to match the external concentration of salts in the surrounding water.
Osmoregulators
An organism that controls its internal salt concentration.
Zone of stability
Where homeostasis is maintained in osmoregulators.
Euryhaline
An organism that can tolerate a wide range of salinities.
Stenohaline
Cannot tolerate substantial changes in external osmolarity.
Stenohaline fish
Most marine and freshwater fish.
Euryhaline fish
Estuary, tidal zone, salt march and diadromous fish.
2 types of diadromous fish
Anadromous (salmon) and catadromous (eel).
Anadromous life cycle
Hatch in freshwater, live in seawater and then lay eggs in freshwater.
Catadromous life cycle
Hatch in seawater, live in freshwater and then lay eggs in seawater.
What determines mechanism of maintaining water balance?
The external environment.
Obligatory osmotic exchanges
Transepithelial diffusion (respiratory and other moist epithelia), ingestion, urination and defecation.
Excretory organs
Respiratory organs (lungs and gills), digestive system, skin and glands and renal system.
What do the respiratory organs excrete?
CO2, NH4+, HCO3-, Na+ and Cl-.
What does the digestive system excrete?
Undigested food, metabolic by-products like bilirubin, Na+ and water.
What do the skin and glands excrete?
Water and salts.
What does the renal system excrete?
Metabolites like urea/uric acid, hormones and drug by-products.
Primary urine formation
By filtration or active solute secretion.
What does primary urine flow through and what happens?
Flows through kidney tubules with its volume and composition modified by active/passive transport of solutes and water osmosis across epithelial cells.
4 processes of urine production
Glomerular filtration, tubular reabsorption, tubular secretion and excretion.
Glomerular filtration
The passage of water, urea, glucose and salts from the plasma into the renal tubule, it excludes RBCs and large plasma proteins.
Tubular reabsorption
Selectively returns 99% of water and salts from filtrate to blood in renal tubules and collecting ducts, with glucose reabsorbed in proximal tubule.
How is water reabsorbed?
Passively through osmosis.
How is NaCl reabsorbed?
Active transport.
Tubular secretion
Selectively moves K+, H+, HCO3- and foreign substances from blood to filtrate in renal tubules and collecting ducts by active transport, it also includes tubular synthesis.
Tubular synthesis
NH4+ synthesised in tubular lumen from NH3 by protein deamination and H+.
Molecules that leave in the proximal tubule
HCO3-, H2O and K+ passively and NaCl and nutrients actively.
Molecules that enter in the proximal tubule
Protons actively and NH3 passively.
Molecules that leave in the loop of Henle
H2O and NaCl (inner medulla) passively and NaCl (outer medulla) actively.
Molecules that leave in the distal tubule
NaCl and HCO3- actively and H2O passively.
Molecules that enter in the distal tubule
K+ and H+ actively.
Molecules that leave in the collective duct
Urea and H2O.