Regulation of Osmolality Flashcards
What is water regulation controlled by?
ADH (vasopressin)
What is ADH?
Polypeptide (9ass)
Where is ADH synthesised?
In the supraoptic (SO) and paraventricular (PVN) nuclei of the hypothalamus in the brain
What secretes ADH?
Posterior pituitary
What is the half life of ADH?
- ~10 minutes
- can rapidly be adjusted depending on the body’s needs for H2O conservation.
How is ADH secretion controlled?
- plasma osmolarity
- ECF volume
What is the primary control of ADH secretion?
Plasma osmolarity
How does increased osmolarity affect ADH secretion?
- effective osmotic pressure of the plasma increases
- rate of discharge of ADH-secreting neurones in the SO and PVN increases
- release of ADH from the posterior pituitary increases
What are changes in neuronal discharge mediated by?
Osmoreceptors in the anterior hypothalamus, close to the SO and PVN
What mediates thirst?
Receptors in the lateral hypothalamus
Why does increased osmolarity increase ADH secretion?
- increased H2O out of cell
- cell shrinks (stretch sensitive ion channel activated)
- increased neuronal discharge
- increased ADH secretion
Why does decreased osmolarity decrease ADH secretion?
- H2O enters cells
- cells swell
- decreased neuronal discharge
- decreased ADH secretion
What does changes in the volume of the osmoreceptors lead to?
Changes in osmoreceptor discharge (stretch sensitive ion channels)
What is the normal plasma osmolarity?
280-290Osm/kg H2O
What does a small change in plasma osmolarity lead to?
Rapid changes in ADH
What increase in ADH does a 2.5% increase in osmolarity result in?
A 10x increase in ADH
Why is an increase in osmolarity that does not cause an increase in tonicity ineffective in causing a change in [ADH]?
Solutes that can penetrate membranes move together with water and don’t produce any osmotic drag or tonicity
Why does an increase in urea not cause an increase in [ADH]?
It is an ineffective osmole
What does the amount of urine produced depend on?
Depends not only on the [ADH] but also on the amount of solute to be excreted
How does ingestion of hypertonic solutions such as seawater effect excretion?
- increases solute load to be excreted
- increases urine flow
- dehydration because more H2O is required to excrete the solute load than was ingested
How is the permeability of collecting ducts to H2O increased?
By incorporating H2O channels known as aquaporins into the luminal membrane
How does the presence of ADH affect the collecting duct?
- H2O is able to leave the collecting duct
- the cortical CD becomes equilibrated with that of the cortical interstitium ie 300 mOsm/l.
- the CD then passes through the hypertonic medullary interstitial gradient, created by the countercurrent multiplier of the loop of Henle
What happens to the collecting duct if maximum ADH is present?
- contents of the collecting duct equilibrates with that of the medullary interstitium
- via osmotic efflux of H2O
- thus becomes highly concentrated at the tip of the medulla.
What is produced when there is maximal [ADH]?
- small volume of highly concentrated urine
- contains less of the filtered H2O than solute
- therefore compensating for water deficiency