(P2)Kidneys Flashcards
What does osmoregulation do?
It controls how much water is lost in the urine, and so controls the body’s water content. This stops animal cells from swelling up or shrinking by osmosis if the water content of the body changes
What happens if there is too little water in the body?
Your brain detects that there is a small amount of water in the blood, so the pituitary gland secretes more ADH, which make the collecting duct more permeable, so more water is absorbed from the kidney tubule back into the blood, and a small volume of concentrated urine is produced
What is the role of the kidneys?
They remove substances including urea from the blood and make urine
What are the roles of the renal veins and the renal arteries?
The renal arteries carry blood from the body to the kidneys.
The renal veins carry the cleaned blood back to the body
What do the ureters do?
Carry urine from the kidneys to the bladder, where it is stored until it is excreted through the urethra
What do nephrons in the kidneys do?
They are the filtration units which make urine. REVISE THE STRUCTURE OF NEPHRONS
Why is kidney failure bad?
Because excess water, mineral ions and urea build up in the body
What does dialysis involve?
Blood is removed from the body and filtered until returned. The blood diffuses into the dialysis fluid to restore the normal concentration of fluids. However, glucose and mineral ions aren’t lost because the fluid contains the same concentration of useful substances as the blood
Why can a transplanted kidney be rejected?
How can this be prevented?
The patient’s antibodies can attack the kidney’s antigens.
To prevent rejection, the antigens on the new kidney and the patient’s tissues must be as similar in type as possible
