Water balance Flashcards
What is osmolarity?
A measure of the solute concentration in a solution that depends upon the number of dissolved solutes present
What is normal plasma osmolarity?
285-295 mosmol/L
Each day we assume excess water and salt (20-25%) so what must be done?
- remove excess volume (or hypertension)
- remove excess water (or cells will swell)
- remove excess salt (or cells shrink)
How can we get rid of excess water/volume?
- sweat (450ml/day)
- faeces (100ml/day)
- respiration (350ml/day)
- urine (1500ml/day, variable)
What are water levels and salt levels used to determine?
- Water balance is used to regulate plasma osmolarity
- Salt levels are used to determine the ECF volume
How much fluid is intracellular an how much extracellular?
intracellular - 25L, 65%
extracellular - 15L, 35%
How much blood is filtered daily by the kidneys and how much is produced as urine?
180L (only 1-2L is urine)
What % of water reaches the loop of Henle and DCT and out as urine?
LoH - 30% (60-70% of everything is reasborbed at PCT)
DCT - 20% (10% is absorbed at LoH)
out of CD as urine - from less than 1% to 10%
Is the LoH longer or shorter in animals that need to conserve more water?
longer
Urea in the establishment of the countercurrent gradient
- Water comes out of the tubule in the descending limb because of the higher interstitial osmolarity
- Urea doesn’t follow it, so the concentration of urea increases in that region
- When it gets to the urea permeable region at the collecting duct, the high concentration urea comes out into the interstitial space, where the concentration then becomes high, so it moves into the permeable region at the bottom of the LoH
- The concentration of urea increases at the bottom of the loop because water has been taken out of the tubular system
- This is the second component in creating the gradient
Give examples of urea transporters
UT-A1, UT-A3 – Inner medullary collecting duct
UT-A2 – Thin descending limb
UT-B1 – Descending vasa recta
What happens if UT A1/A3 is inhibited?
- severe reduced urea in inner medulla
- reduction in ability to concentrate urine
- increased water intake
- no ability to produce urine if water restricted for 24hrs
What happens if UTA2 is inhibited?
mils phenotype only observable on low protein diet
What happens if UTB is inhibited?
- Increased urine production
- reduced concentrating ability
- weight loss
Give examples of mutations in urea transporters in humans and the effects
- In humans no UTA1/3 mutations
- Those with point mutations in U2 A2 have reduced blood pressure
- Those with loss of function mutation in UT B have reduced urine concentration ability