Urinary Flashcards
What are the functions of the kidney/ urinary system?
homeostasis volume, osmolarity and pH
excretion of waste
Where is the 40Litres of water in the body?
intracellular- 25L
interstitial- 12L
Intravascular- 3L
Lymph and transcellular (synovial pleural etc)
Describe the venous drainage of the kidneys
Communicate with the IVC. This is the most superficial of the hiatus anteriorly. The left renal vein is longest as the IVC is situated on the right side of the aorta. The left side passes under the superior mesenteric artery.
Describe the arterial supply to the kidneys
Pair of arteries that branch of the abdominal aorta that pass posteriorly to the IVC. The right side is longer than the left.
Describe the arrangements of vessels within the kidney
Abdominal aorta
renal artery
anterior and posterior branches
segmental arteries pass along the renal columns.
Interlobar arteries pass along the edge of the pyramid.
At the base of the pyramid it arcs round the base becoming the arcuate arteries.
At 90% to the arcuate are the interlobular which branch off.
Branches off to give rise to the afferent arteriole and then the glomerulus.
Vasa recta comes from efferent in juxta medullary arteriole that goes all the way down the loop of henle communicating with venous drainage that drains then into the interlobular arteriole
In cortical nephrons the efferent arteriole forms the peritubular capillaries which drains into the interlobular veins.
Describe the gross histology of the kidney
Cortex surround the medullary pyramids. The pyramids are ionically rich and towards the hilum of the kidney i.e close to the pelvis. The pelvis takes drainage from the minor –>major calyx and drains into the ureter.
Describe the course of the ureters
Pelvouretal junction. When it leaves the pelvis.
Travels down towards the division of the common iliac into the internal and external iliac arteries.
It then travels down and joins with the bladder.
How does change in extracellular volume affect the body?
Will cause a change in BP, and a change in tissue fluid and cell function.
How does lack of homeostasis of osmolarity affect the cells of the body?
Will lead to changes in cell volume.
Describe what is meant by hypotonic
With a conc lower than a reference fluid
Describe what is meant by hypertonic
With a conc higher than a reference fluid
Describe what is meant by isotonic
Equal conc to the reference fluid.
Define osmolality
Solute per Kg of solvent.
Define osmolarity
Number of osmoles of solute per litre
What volume of ultrafiltrate is produced per day and how much isn’t recovered?
180L
1.5L
What blood flow does the kidney need?
4ml/g/min (approx 25% of the cardiac output)
What height are the kidneys at?
L= 11th rib R= 12th rib
What is the parenchyme of the kidney?
The medulla and cortex
How many nephrons are in each kidney?
1.5 million
What is the role of the glomerulus?
To filter the blood plasma. the fluid is similar in composition to filtration across other capillary beds i.e similar ionically to blood but lacking the large proteins and high molecular weight molecules however the rate in the kidneys is massively higher.
Describe the arrangement of cells in the glomerulus
At the vascular pole there is a hilum for the efferent and afferent arteriole. In communication with this are the macula densa cells of the distal tubule. Surrounding the afferent arteriole is the Juxtaglomerular apparatus. Within the bowman’s capsule podocytes are on the exterior of the epithelium of the capillaries, this is known as the visceral layer of bowman’s capsule. The parietal layer of bowman’s capsule is the outside of the capsule. In the middle of the bowman’s capsule are mesangial cells.
How does the epithelium of the capillaries differ in the glomerulus?
They are fenestrated in nature and are lined with basement membrane and a layer of podocyte foot processes except at the mesangial cells in the centre where they have neither.The fenestrations don’t restrict anything except for cellular movement.
What is the glomerular basement membrane’s composition and how does it function?
Lamina rara interna-contains heparan sulphate so restricts movement of -ve ions
Lamina densa- restricts size to 1 kDa
Lamina rara externa-contains heparan sulphate so restricts movement of -ve ions
What are the roles of the kidney?
Hormone production, electrolyte balance, pH balance, fluid balance, excretion.
What is the renal corpuscle? Function? Made of ?
The glomerulus and bowman’s capsule.
To produce the ultrafiltrate from between the pseudopodia of the podocytes.
Made from a meshwork of capillaries in glomerulus which are formed between the efferent and afferent arterioles at the vascular pole. Endothelium line them here which are fenestrated to allow passage of particulates. Beneath which is a triple layer basement membrane high in glycoproteins to trap anions. Beneath again are the podocytes which interdigitate to provide a further meshwork.
This is a very leaky barrier however particulates exceeding 14 kDa experience great resistance in passing the layers.
What do collecting ducts drain into?
Ducts of bellini.
What properties do that cells have in the PCT?
It links the bowman’s capsule to the loop of henle.
Made from simple cuboidal epithelium.
They have a very prominent brush border on the apical/luminal membrane. This increases surface area allowing for increased rates of absorption.
The cells are densely packed with mitochondria found largely in the basal region of the plasma membrane. This gives the cells a very acidophillic appearance. This is needed fro Na+ transport.
Between the cells are tight junctions preventing unwanted diffusion between the lumen and ECF. However the tightness of the junctions increases from proximal to distal.
Describe the thin limbs of loop of henle
Low number of mitochondria.
Composed of simple squamous epithelium.
Ascending: partially water permeable, relatively permeable to salts.
Descending: 100% water permeable, but only partially solute permeable.
Describe the thick limbs of the loop of henle
Composed of simple cuboidal epithelium with no brush border.
Impermeable to water and have numerous NKKC2 channels in the apical membrane. There are also many K+ channels in the apical membrane allowing K+ to pass into the lumen. This creates a +ve charge in the lumen and is a driving force for both transcellular movement of Na+ and also provides the substrate for the NKKC2 channel.