Urinary System Flashcards
What is the funtional unit of the kidney?
Nephron, or uriniferous tubule (depends on how you view it
How many nephrons in the kidney?
Around 2 million
How much of cardiac output is recieved by the kidneys?
20-25%
How do the blood supplies to the lobes of the kidney relate?
They do not cross over, each stays in localized lobe
What is the hilum of the kidney?
Concave region where renal pelvis is located
What does the hilum contain?
Renal arteries, veins, lymph vessels, and nerves
Describe the renal pelvis
Cone-shaped expansion of the upper end of the ureter
What does the pelvis connect?
Major renal calyces
What is the superficial layer of kidney consisting of renal corpuscles and convoluted tubules called?
Renal cortex
What is a renal column? What do they run between?
An extension of cortical tissue. Run between adjacent renal pyramids
What are medullary rays?
Straight tubules that extend from base of renal pyramid into the cortex
What makes up the bulk of the renal medulla?
Renal pyramids, thin limbs of henle and collecting tubules
Where is the renal papillla?
At the apex of each renal pyramid
What does the renal pyramid project into? What is the name of its perforated tip?
Projects into minor caly lumen, tip is called area cribrosa
What is in the renal interstitium
Sparse connective tissue of the kidney, fibroblasts, mononuclear cells, some erythropoietin
What produces erythropoietin? Where are these cells located?
Fibroblasts, near peritubular capillaries
What is the kidney very important to in terms of blood flow?
Kidneys control blood pressure in a variety of ways
What kinds of cells are present in the medulla
Pericytes along blood vessels to loops of Henle
Interstitial cells between loops of henle, connecting ducts, and vasa recta
What do interstitial cells contain? What can they produce?
Contains elongated nuclei with lipid droplets, may synthesize medullipin I which eventually forms a vasodilator through liver modfication
Each lobe of the kidney is made up of multiple _______
Lobules
What is a renal lobule?
Area of cortex bounded on either side by interlobular artery. Nephrons all drain into the same connecting duct
What are the parts of a nephron?
Renal corpuscle, proximal convoluted tubule, loop of Henle, distal convoluted tubule
Which has longer loops of Henle, the cortical nephrons or the juxtamedullary nephrons?
The juxtamedullary nephrons
What are the nephrons for?
Exchanging water, salt, and urea