Salt and Water Balance and

Nitrogen Excretion
 Summary of kidney functions

1. Excretory
removal of ....................................

2. Endocrine
................, ......................., .................

3. Homeostatic
regulation of ............. , .............. and ........ of blood plasma
 Principles of excretory systems
Excretory systems control

• volume
• concentration
• composition of the extracellular fluid
• waste excretion

Control of ................ and .................. of extracellular fluids is achieved by:

• excretion of solutes that are in excess—..........

• conserving solutes that are valuable or in short supply—.................

................. is the output of the excretory system.

(The osmolarity of a solution is the number of moles of active solutes per

liter of solvent.
The osmolarity of the extracellular fluid must be maintained for cellular
water balance.)
 Principles of excretory systems
Excretory system have three processes in common:

• Filtration—

• Reabsorption—

• Secretion—
 Principles of excretory systems
• Animals in various environments face different challenges:
Terrestrial animals must conserve ............... and ......
Freshwater animals have to conserve .......... but excrete excess ...........

• Marine animals are exposed to the high osmolarity of the ocean:

Osmoconformers equilibrate their osmolarity with ...............
Osmoregulators maintain osmolarities ............. than .................

• Animals must eliminate ....................... products:

................ and ........... end as ........... and ....... and are easily excreted
.............. and ................ contain .............. so metabolism produces
nitrogenous waste

• Ammonia (NH3) is the most common nitrogenous waste.

Terrestrial and other aquatic animals must convert NH3 to less toxic
............... or ......................
 The excretory system of the vertebrates

• Kidney— the main .....................

• Nephron— the main ........................ of the kidney
Nephrons ........... large volumes of blood and achieve
bulk ..........................

• Urine formation in vertebrate nephrons involves

three processes:
• Filtration—blood is filtered in a ............... , a ball
of capillaries
• Tubular reabsorption—glomerular filtrate flows
into the ................., where it is modified by
reabsorption of specific ........ , ........., and ..........
• Tubular secretion—glomerular filtrate in the
renal tubule is further modified
Tubule cells transport substances to be excreted into the
tubular contents.

• ................ work with the glomerular capillaries, and

transport substances to and from the ....................
 The structure of the kidney
• The ............, ............, and
.............. enter the kidney on the
concave side.
• The ureter branches and envelops
the ......................
• Renal pyramids make up the
..................., or internal core.
• The .................is the outer layer
of the kidney.
 The structure of the nephron
• The functional unit of the vertebrate kidney is the nephron.

• Each human kidney has about a million nephrons.

• Nephrons have a regular

organization:
• .............. are located in the cortex
• .............. tubules—the initial,
twisted segments of the renal
tubules, located in the cortex
• The renal tubule descends into the
medulla and forms the .............
which is important for urine
concentration.
• After forming the loop, the tubule
returns to the cortex. The .............
limb of the loop of Henle becomes
the .................. .
• The distal convoluted tubules join the
.................. in the cortex.
 Filtration
• Blood is .................... in the glomerulus.
• Blood enters through the .............. arteriole and leaves through the ................ arteriole.
• The efferent arteriole feeds the peritubular capillaries, which surround the tubule and
serve as exchange sites.
• The renal tubule begins with Bowman’s capsule, which encloses the glomerulus.
Podocytes are capsule cells that contact the glomerular capillaries.
Podocytes have fine processes that wrap around the capillaries.
 Filtration
The glomerulus produces a fluid that lacks ............ and large ................. .
The rate of filtration is high in the glomerulus due to:
• High ....................... pressure
• High ..................... of glomerular capillaries and their podocytes.

•Filtered amount of fluid (Glomerular Filtration Rate, GFR): .......... ml/min = .......... L/day,
which is .......... % of blood they receive
Amount of urine is usually ............ L/day, due to about ........... of the filtered fluid

Extrarenal capillary Glomerular capillary

50 50 Peff
Pressure (mmHg)

Filtration

Pressure (mmHg)
Peff equilibrium πeff
πeff
25 25 Pnet

Filtration Filtration
equilibrium
Reabsorption
0 0
Arterial limb Venous limb .............. limb ............ limb
 Tubular functions – proximal convoluted tubule

• The proximal convoluted tubule (PCT) is

responsible for the ........... reabsorption of
water and solutes— ...................

• PCT cells have ............ to increase surface

area, and have ........................

• They reabsorb ........., ............, and .........

acids
• ............. follows the transport of solutes
 Tubular functions – loop of Henle

• Concentration of
urine is due to a
countercurrent
........... mechanism
in the loops of Henle.

• Tubule fluid flows in

.......... directions in
the ............. and
................. limbs.

• The loops increase

.............. of interstitial
fluid in a graduated
way.
 Tubular functions – loop of Henle
• Loop of Henle segments:
• Thick ascending limb— ................ and .............. their
concentration in the interstitial fluid
• Thin descending limb— loses ............ to the neighboring
interstitial fluid with high ..................................

• Thin ascending limb— receives ............... fluid from

................. limb and allows ............... of Na+ and Cl– into
the interstitial fluid
Fluid reaching the distal collecting duct is ..... concentrated—
solutes in the medulla create a ..................... gradient.

• The concentration gradient is preserved by the ............. .

Blood flowing down the ................. limb loses .......... and gains
................. .
Concentrated blood flowing .......... the ascending limb gains
.............. and loses ............... — water is thus returned to the
bloodstream.
 Osmolarity of tubular
fluid (mOsm)

0
100
200
300
600
900
1200
Proximal tubule

Thin descend.

Thin asc.
Thick ascending
Loop of Henle

Distalis convoluted
Distalkanyarulatos
JM nephron

csat.
Összekötôtubule
Connecting
Cortical gy.cs.
Corticalis
collecting duct
Osmolarity of the filtrate

Med. + Papill.
coll. duct
at different parts of the nephron

Effect of ADH

Urine
ADH

ADH
-
+
 Regulation of the volume and osmolarity
A constant glomerular filtration rate (GFR) requires blood supplied to the kidneys under
adequate pressure.
•Autoregulatory mechanisms ensure blood supply and blood pressure:
Dilation of afferent renal arterioles — maintains glomerular blood pressure

•Kidney releases ............. if GFR still falls, this activates .........................

•Angiotensin — constricts ............... renal arterioles and peripheral blood vessels to raise
blood pressure.
•Stimulates release of .................. to increase ..... uptake, and stimulates ....... to increase
............ ingestion to raise blood volume and pressure.
Regulation of the volume and osmolarity

Na+
 Regulation of the volume and osmolarity

• The hypothalamus can

stimulate release of
.............. ), also called
.......................
• .............. increases the
................. of membranes
to water in the .................
• Osmoreceptors that
detect a ......... in blood
osmolarity will stimulate
............... release.
 Regulation of the volume and osmolarity

• .......... receptors in the ........... and ...........

arteries will ............. ADH if blood pressure
............... .
• Less circulating ........... means less water
reabsorbed leading to ............. blood volume and
pressure.

• The ................. is sequestered in the membranes

of intracellular vesicles in cells of the ...............
• When .............is detected, .......... is inserted into
the membranes of the cells and increases their
............. to .................
 Regulation of the volume and osmolarity

• Atrial muscle fibers release ................... ) when blood volume

in the ............. increases
• ................ decreases the ................... of Na+ in the kidney.
• .............. loss of .......... and ............ decreases blood ..........
and .....................
 Summary of long term regulatory factors

Protection against
hypotension
and
hypovolemia
RAS
AT-II

Plasma Volume Plasma Volume

MAP ADH/VP MAP

ANP Protection against

hypervolemia
 Regulation of the ...........
• Kidneys also regulate ................ of extracellular fluids.
• HCO3– ions are the major ............. in blood, formed from hydration of
CO2 followed by dissociation of carbonic acid (H2CO3).

Carbonic
Anhydrase

• The buffer system can be controlled by the .............. and ................

• ............. control level of CO2 in blood—called the acid portion of the
reaction as more CO2 = more H+.
• ................ control the base portion by removing H+ and adding HCO3–.
 Regulation of the pH
• Another mechanism for H+ secretion and HCO3– reabsorption involves the exchange
of H+ for Na+ in the tubule fluid.
• H+ combines with HCO3– and then dissociates into H2O and CO2.
• CO2 diffuses into tubule cells and in the presence of ................... produces HCO3 that
is transported to interstitial fluid and to the blood.
 Endocrine functions of the kidney

.................)
............... is biologically active form of vitamin D3
UV light
skin: 7-dehydrocholesterol → cholecalciferol (D3)
liver: 25-hydroxylase → 25-OH-D3
kidney: 1-α-hydroxylase → 1,25-(OH)2-D3 ................

...................... (...........)
Hypoxia leads to ............ synthesis in kidney
 Problems of excretory organs
Kidney stones
Dialysis in kidney failure