The Kidney and Renal Function Flashcards
Kidney Disease can be:
- chronic
- acute and present with life threatening
emergencies
Functions of the urinary tract (2):
1) Excretion: removal of organic waste
products
2) Elimination: discharge of waste products
into the environment
Homeostatic functions of the kidney (2):
- regulation of water and electrolyte balance
- regulation of acid base balance
Excretory functions of the kidney (2):
- excretion of drugs and their metabolites
- excretion of endogenous waste products
Regulatory functions of the kidney (1):
- production of hormones: erythropoietin,
renin, prostaglandins, active vit D
Erythropoeitin function
stimulates bone marrow to create RBCs
Manifestations of kidney disease:
The Kidneys
Two major layers of the kidney:
1) Cortex
2) Medulla
Cortex of kidney (2):
- outer region
- contains glomerulus and convoluted
tubules
Medulla of Kidney (3):
- inner region of kidney
- arranged into pyramid like structures
- consists of the bulk of nephron structure
What is the functional unit of the kidney?
- nephron
- responsible for urine formation/
composition
Early stages of chronic kidney disease you can lose upto
50% of nephrons
Five distinct sections of nephron:
- Glomerulus
- Proximal Convoluted Tubule
- Loop of Henle
- Distal Convolute Tubule
- Collecting Duct
Nephron
Nephron functions
Renal Blood Flow (normally)
1-1.25L/min
Glomerular Filtration Rate (normally)
100-125ml/min (150-200L/day)
Total no. nephrons: 2.5 million:
Cortical:
Juxtaglomerular:
Cortical: 2.1 million
Juxtaglomerular: 0.4 million
Tubular fluid enters the collecting duct
- deep in the inner medulla of kidney
- tubular fluid exits at the tip of the renal
pyramid
A site of drug-induced nephrotoxicity is
the renal papilla
Cortical nephrons:
- 70-80% of all nephrons in a kidney
- located in the cortex
- short loop of Henle into the medulla
Juxtaglomerular Nephrons:
- 20-30%
- situated closer to the medulla
- loop of henle extends deep into renal
pyramids
Modification of urine occurs in which part of the nephron
- the distal collecting tubule
- the collecting duct
The nephron