Week 5 - Plasma Osmolarity Flashcards
If water intake>water excretion then plasma osmolarity…
…decreases
How much urine is produced on average per day?
-1.5L
What senses changes in plasma osmolarity?
-Hypothalamic osmoreceptors in OVLT
What two pathways are activated through the hypothalamic osmoreceptors?
- ADH
- thirst
What is the result of ADH secretion?
-Decreased renal water excretion
What is the result of activating thirst pathway?
-Increased water intake
How are hypothalamic osmoreceptors exposed to plasma?
-Fenestrated leaky endothelium which senses changes in plasma osmolarity directly
Besides from increased plasma osmolarity, what else activates ADH and thirst pathways?
-Decreased ECF volume
Which efferent pathway of the hypothalamic osmoreceptors is most sensitive?
- ADH (occurs at 1% change)
- Thirst occurs at 10% change)
How is ADH secretion controlled?
-Negative feedback loop
What is the ultimate effect of ADH on the urine?
-Produces a low volume of concentrated urine
What effect does ADH have on the CD?
-Increases permeability to water and urea
What happens if plasma osmolarity decreases?
-No ADH stimulation -> CD is impermeable to water -> diuresis (high volume hypotonic urine)
Why is the increasing gradient in the interstitium of the kidney essential?
-Allows water to be drawn out when ADH is present producing concentrated urine
What is the mechanism of ADH?
-Causes aquaporin 2 channels to be inserted into the apical membrane of CD and late DCT so water can be resorbed
What happens to the permeability of CD and late DCT when ADH removed?
-AQP2 channels retrieved by endocytosis so permeability is removed
Which AQP channels are always present in basolateral membrane?
-AQP 3+4
What other effects does ADH have besides AQP channels?
- Causes vasoconstriction of glomerulus to decrease the effective filtering surface area
- Increases Na, K+ and Cl- resorption in ascending limb due to urea -> causes a more hypotonic filtrate at top of loop
- Increases K+ secretion in cortical CD
Describe the effect on the response to plasma osmolarity when there is a change in blood volume/pressure
- Decreased blood volume -> lower osmolarity is tolerated as you need to maintain blood volume and therefore tolerate the lower osmolarity in order to increase volume
- Increased blood volume -> Higher osmolarity tolerated as you want to reduce your blood volume so excrete more water
What is diabetes insipidus?
- A condition caused by the pituitary gland not producing enough ADH or insensitivity of the kidney to ADH
- More water is excreted than wanted resulting in polyuria and polydipsia, with a possible resulting hyponatraemia
What is syndrome of inappropriate antidiuretic hormone secretion (SIADH)?
- A syndrome characterised by excessive release of ADH from the posterior pituitary or another source (small cell carcinoma of lung)
- Results in dilutional hyponatraemia as the total body fluid is increased
What is the corticopapillary osmotic gradient?
-The increasing osmotic gradient from isotonic to hypertonic between the cortex and the renal papilla
What 3 factors are the main contributors to the corticopapillary gradient?
- Active transport of NaCl in thick ascending limb
- Urea recycling
- Vasa recta which maintains the gradient
What is an effective osmole?
- Any solute which increase the osmolarity of a solution
- To effect the osmolarity a solute must not be able to freely diffuse across the membrane or be transported