Overview of Renal Structure and Function Flashcards
Kidney’s job
Homeostasis
How does the kidney maintain total body content at a normal level?
Changing its rate of excretion
Where is sodium found?
**Restricted to ECF!!!!**
Hyperosmotic fluid loss means sodium depletion from:
ECF!! (so ECF would be hypoosmotic)
BP is determined by ____, which is determined by ____.
ECFV Total body Na+ content
What would you expect to see in a pt with no sodium?
Death
What is the major EC osmole? IC osmole?
Na+
K+
Hyperkalemia means excess K+ in which compartment?
EC
(don’t get confused despite K+ being major IC osmole)
Total body water most influenced by:
Osmolality of Na+, which determines majority of total body osmolality
Two major anions in ECF:
Cl- and Bicarb (HCO3-)
___% of body is water in males, ___% in females
60%
50%
Why do males have higher % TBW than females?
Males have more skeletal muscle
(Remember: 43% of TBW goes to muscle and 76% of muscle is water)
Function of HCO3-?
Maintain pH of 7.4
Major ECF buffer
Name three minerals whose levels are maintained by the kidney.
Calcium, phosphorus, magnesium
Name three waste products excreted in the urine and from which process each is produced.
Urea - protein metabolism
Creatinine - muscle metabolism
Uric acid - nucleic acid metabolism
What type of anemia is anemia of chronic kidney disease? What treats it?
Normochromic normocytic
EPO injections
What would you expect to see in a PBS of pt with EPO-secreting tumor?
Reticulocytes
(increased RBC production)
What would you expect to see in a PBS of pt with kidney necrosis?
Low reticulocyte count with a normochromic, normocytic anemia
(Less functioning kidney mass = less EPO = low RBC production = anemia)
Is anemia of chronic kidney disease reversible? How?
Yes, EPO injections
(also probably by reversing the cause of the kidney disease?)
Why might kidney disease cause bone pain, weakness, and cognitive impairment?
Vitamin D deficiency
(lack of active form of vitamin D)
What enzyme converts vitamin D to its active form, called ____?
1-alpha hydroxylase
Calcitriol
Where is renin produced?
Juxtamedullary apparatus by specialized cells in the afferent arteriole
Name four vasodilatory messengers produced by the kidney.
NO, PGI2, PGE2, bradykinin
Name the two renal functions of bradykinin.
Vasodilation and natriuresis
What role does vasodilation via PGI2 and PGE2 serve?
Autoregulation of GFR
Name a vasoconstrictor produced by the kidney. When is this produced?
Endothelin
When there is endothelial injury
Name 3 compounds for which the kidney is the sole source.
EPO, 1-alpha hydroxylase (virtually), renin
Function of angiotensin II? Aldosterone?
Vasoconstriction (systemic)
Na+ reabsorption in DT
(T/F): Kidney can cause both vasoconstriction and vasodilation systemically.
True
(Ang II/endothelin vs. NO/PGI2/PGE2/bradykinin)
Why might a person with renal medullary damage have hypertension?
Vasodilatory substances produced in the renal medulla and HTN is largely a kidney disease
Type I DM pt with poor insulin compliance and chronic kidney disease has a normal A1c. What explains this?
The kidney catabolizes insulin, so a pt with renal disease would have slower degradation of, thus less requirement for, insulin. Despite not complying with the recommended insulin schedule, his A1c is normal because more endogenous insulin is available.
Pt 1: Male lawyer with DM, poor insulin control, chronic kidney disease, and an A1c of 9.
Pt 2: Homeless man with DM, poor insulin control, chronic kidney disease, and a normal A1c.
Give two reasons for the difference in A1c.
- Pt 2 is homeless, therefore likely fasting a lot. He has chronic renal disease so is unable to produce as much glucose during fasting, as well as taking in less glucose, accounting for the normal A1c despite poor insulin compliance.
- The second pt’s renal disease also contributes to slower degradation of insulin, thus less need for exogenous injections. The first pt would have the same but not compounded by fasting.
An anorexic teenage female mentions during an office visit that she seems to never have the urge to urinate. Besides possible dehydration, what other mechanism may account for this?
During fasting, the kidney contributes to gluconeogenesis, thus pts will have a very low GFR and low urine output.
How much of gluconeogenesis is produced by the kidney during fasting?
25%-33.3%
A pt about to undergo a renal transplant should be given other antibiotics prophylactically than penicillin, cephs, or an aminoglycoside. Why?
Those are renally excreted drugs. Avoid renally excreted drugs in pts with kidney disease if possible.
Pt takes injected with 1 mg/mL inulin and excretes 0.5 mg/mL. Inulin is then in ___ balance.
Positive
(intake + production > excretion)
To be in negative balance, creatinine excretion would need to be greater than ____ mL/min.
140
(Remember: creatinine clearance ~ 140mL/min)
Too much Na+ = ___ expansion and what clinical finding?
ECFV
HTN
How can you determine if a pt’s edema is due to kidney disease?
Measure Na+ excretion in the urine; if elevated, excess Na+ not due to kidney
(too much Na+ in ECF = water follows = transudate causes edema)
How many glomeruli in the body?
Two million (one million/kidney)
What two pressures make up Starling forces and what does each pressure control?
- Hydrostatic pressure = kicks things out of cells
- Oncotic pressure = keeps things inside cells
What do Starling forces control in the kidney?
GFR, reabsorption, secretion
What kinds of cells are found in the ultrafiltrate of glomerulus?
None - ultrafiltrate is cell free and protein free
If plasma is 290 mOsm/L, glomerular filtrate will be ___ mOsm/L.
290
(iso-osmotic with plasma)
The kidneys receive how much cardiac output?
20%
(10% per kidney)
If 180L/day is filtered, ___% or ___ L/day is reabsorbed.
98-99%
178L/d
On a PET scan, which part of the kidney would be brightest? If possible to look at parts of the nephron, which part would be brightest?
Cortex
Tubules
(brightest = highest O2 consumption)
Filtrate moves from ___ into ___ in the glomerulus.
Glomerular capillaries to Bowman’s space
Main function of the tubules?
Reabsorption
What can be reabsorbed but not secreted?
Water
List one compound that is mainly removed via secretion.
K+
(Non-referred) Pain due to pyelonephritis would be felt where?
Back T12-L3
Which part of the kidney houses the glomeruli?
Cortex
Which structures in the kidney will be most affected by ischemia?
Tubules, loops of Henle, collecting ducts, vasa recta
(These are in the medulla, which only receives 10% of renal blood flow)
The renal artery, renal vein, nerves, lymphatics, renal pelvis, and ureter reside in the ___ of the kidney.
Hilum (central part)