The Renal System Flashcards
What do the kidneys filter in order to produce?
Filter blood and produce urea
What is the job of the ureters?
There role is to transport the urine to the bladder
Define homeostasis
A term used to describe the process of the various physiological systems that work to maintain a constant of the internal environment
Name some functions of the kidneys
- Filtration of the blood
- Regulation of the blood volume
- Secretion of renin and erythropoietin
- Maintenance of acid-base balance
- Synthesis of Vitamin D
- Gluconeogenesis
What name can the renal system also go by?
The Urinary System
Briefly run through the stages from beginning to end of the nephron
- Blood enters through the renal artery
- Glomerulus
- Tubules (to the Bowman’s Capsule)
- Proximal convoluted tubule
- To the descending limb
- Loop of Henle
- Ascending limb
- Distal convoluted tubule
- Collecting duct
- Urine produced
What occurs at the glomerulus
Blood plasma is filtered through the capillaries of the glomerulus into the Bowman’s Capsule.
What occurs at the Bowmans’ Capsule
Empties the filtrate from the glomerulus into the proximal convoluted tubule
Where does the glomerulus receive its blood supply from?
An afferent arteriole of the renal circulation
What is another name for micturition?
Urination
What 3 things control/cause the co-ordinated response?
- Contraction of the muscular walls of the bladder
- Reflex relaxation of the internal sphincter of the urethra
- Voluntary relaxation of the external sphincter
Name the three steps of the process of needing to urinate
- Accumulation of urine increase the wall tension in the bladder
- The tension stimulates the stretch receptors in the bladder
- They then relay parasympathetic sensory impulses to the brain which generates the awareness
What does the proximal convoluted tubule reabsorb?
Water, sodium, potassium, glucose, amino acids, calcium and urea
What does the proximal convoluted tubule excrete?
Hydrogen ions, urea, creatinine and ammonium ions
What does the Loop of Henle re-absorb and excrete?
It reabsorbs water, sodium, potassium, chloride, calcium and magnesium.
It excretes urea
