What is the location of the Kidney?
Retroperitoneal cavity
Level with T12 - L3
Level and posterior to stomach & pancreas
What is the function of the Nephron?
- Filters nitrogenous waste from blood
- Forms urine
- Removes excess water and electrolytes
What do afferent arterioles do?
- take blood into individual nephrons
- specifically into individual glomeruli
What do efferent arterioles do?
- take blook out of individual nephrons
What is a Glomerulus?
A ball of capillaries that perform the following steps:
1. filter substances out of blood and into Bowman’s capsule
2. filtrate passes through proximal convoluted tubule
3. loop of Henle
4. distal convoluted tubule
5. Collecting duct
Glomerulus filters out what items from the blood?
- most water and ions
- RBCs, WBCs, Platelets, and plasma proteins (albumin) do not filter out
What happens in the proximal convoluted tubule (PCT)
- 65% of water
- ions
- bicarbonate
- H+
- glucose
- amino acids
Are all reabsorbed
What happens in the descending loop of Henle
Water reabsorption only
What happens in the distal convoluted tubule
Fine tuning - reabsorption according to body’s needs
What hormones are important in the DCT?
ADH - causes increased water absorption
Aldosterone causes increased sodium reabsorption
