Week 7 (kidney) physiology Flashcards
deep anaesthesia use in rodent model studies
To maintain cardiovascular stability - studying kidney function
Enables:
single nephron micropuncture - test to assess how the nephron is handling fluid.
proximal/distal tubule and peritubular capillary
Tubules have anatomical proximity to capillaries.
Efficient exchange of substances between the nephron and the bloodstream
functional imaging of kidney (normal vs hypertension)
Through MRI and contrast agents injected into the blood stream.
Healthy kidneys are generally well perfused.
Kidneys suffered from hypertension will generally undergo atrophy and are not well perfused —–> non-functional
nocturnal dip of BP (measure)
Absence of nocturnal dip exists in pre-hypertension and diabetes.
retinal imaging and hypertension
Retinal capillary/arteriole changes are indicative of some diabetic and hypertensive disorders. Such as thicker arteriole walls and loss of small capillaries.
kidney’s perfusion
Kidney take 20% of the cardiac output, thus highly perfused.
But the arterial beds of the kidney are auto-regulated.
Along with brain and heart.
Renal autoregulation of blood flow
So the glomerular filtration rate is tightly regulated within physiological ranges (AUTOREGULATORY RANGE of BP (80mmHg - 180mmHg)
Flow can be detected using?
Ultrasound probes:
By measuring the frequency difference of blood flow to measure it.
Why is autoregulation of blood flow important?
So the perfusion of the organ is stable despite acute changes in blood pressure.
myogenic reflex of renal vasculature
- As arteriole stretches -> detected by smooth muscle cells around arteriole
- The stretch releases ATP (autocrine signalling)
- Extracellular ATP is detected by P2X1 receptor —-> increase in intracellular calcium
- intracellular calcium will lead to muscle cell contraction
- arteriole constriction
sensitivity of ATP of arterioles
Amongst:
arcuate (between medulla and cortex)
interlobular (branches from arcuate arterioles)
afferent arterioles (branches from interlobular)
Afferent arterioles are the most sensitive to extracellular ATP concentration that leads to arteriole constriction.
Rodent model (P2X1 KO)
When these receptors to ATP are knocked out, there will be no myogenic reflex.
oxygen gradient in the kidney
Highest in the cortex, lowest in the medulla (10mmHg)
This means that the cells in the medulla are very vulnerable to abnormal anaemia conditions
layers of glomerular filtration (from capillary blood to primary urine)
From capillary blood:
- (Capillary) Glomerular endothelial cells
- (Connective tissue) Glomerular basement membrane
- Podocytes
To Bowman’s capsule
Glomerular endothelial cells (permeability)
- Negatively charged
- HIGH permeability
Glomerular basement membrane (permeability)
- Has collagen and laminin, HIGHLY negatively charged
Some proteins are negatively charged, repelled from basement membrane. - HIGH permeability
Podocytes (which layer is it? what is it called? function?)
- The last layer of the glomerular filtration
- This is the barrier that truly controls substances that filter through.
The cell-cell junction between foot processes of podocytes are called slit diaphragms.
another name for slit membrane/diaphragm
nephrins
Where are peritubular capillaries from?
From the efferent arteriole that continues to reabsorb substances from the renal tubules.
What is the molecular radius that all charges can pass through the glomerular filtration layers?
1.6 nm
How does charge affect protein filtration through the glomerulus
The more negatively charged, the less filterable.
The more positively charged, the more filterable.
- If the molecular radius of an anion reaches 3nm, it is not filterable at all.
For example: albumin (-ve charge and between 3-4 nm) and not filtered.