Regulation of Osmolarity Flashcards
Water regulation is controlled by…
ADH/Vasopressin
What is ADH?
A 9 amino acid chain polypeptide hormone made in the supraoptic and paraventricular nuclei of the hypothalamus and released from the posterior pituitary gland
What is the 1y control of ADH secretion?
Plasma osmolarity - when this increases the rate of ADH discharge also increases
What are changes in neuronal discharge of ADH mediated by?
Osmoreceptors in the anterior hypothalamus - close to the supraoptic and paraventricular nuclei
What other receptors are there in the lateral hypothalamus?
Ones that mediate thrist
How do osmoreceptors work?
If osmolarity increases, H2O leaves the cell causing it to shrink and activate stretch sensitive ion channels
This increases neural discharge which increases ADH secretion
If osmolarity decreases, cells swell and neural discharge decreases
So changes in the BLANK of the osmoreceptors leads to changes in…
Volume
Leads to changes in osmoreceptor discharge
What is normal plasma osmoLALity?
280-290 mOsm/kg H2O
It is very precisely regulated
What happens if small changes in plasma osmolality occurs?
Leads to rapid changes in ADH
Even a 2.5% increase in osmolality leads to 10x more ADH
If osmolarity increases but tonicity doesn’t - does this still entice a ADH response? Explain
No - because solutes that penetrate membranes without need of transporters move together with water and do not create any osmotic drag like ions do
Give examples of a substance that changes osmolarity but not tonicity.
Urea can move in and out of the cell changing osmolarity but it doesn’t create any water gradients so tonicity stays the same
Is the concentrating ability of the kidney high or limited? What does this mean for the amount of urine produced?
Limited
The amount of urine produced depends not only on the [ADH] but also on the amount of solute to be excreted
If 2400 mOsm of solutes needed excreted, how much urine would need to be made to get rid of this?
Even at max concentrated urine - 1200/1400 you would need at least 2L to get rid of it
So why is ingestion of hypertonic solutions dangerous? Give an example.
Leads to rapid dehydration as the body needs to get rid of these extra solutes via urine
Drinking seawater will cause to to increase urine flow to get rid of salt meaing you excrete more water to do so and you will die of dehydration
How does ADH work?
Binds to membrane receptors in the collecting duct which activates aquaporins increases permeability of H2O
This allows the CORTICAL collecting duct to become equilibrated with the interstitial at 300 mOsm/L
The collecting duct then passes through the hypertonic medullary interstitial gradient and water is removed or retained as needed, dictated by ADH