Bowman’s capsule:

Urinary system ● Enlarged end of nephron

● Is the major excretory system of the body ● Opens into proximal tubule
● Some organs in other systems also eliminate ● Contains podocytes (specialized cells
wastes, but they are not able to compensate in the around glomerular capillaries)
case of kidney failure Glomerulus:
(fig 18.1) ● Contains capillaries wrapped around it
(fig 15.5)
Urinary system functions Filtration membrane:
1. Excretion ● In renal corpuscle
2. Regulation of blood volume and blood pressure ● Includes glomerular capillaries, podocytes,
3. Regulation of blood solute concentration basement membrane
4. Regulation of extracellular fluid pH Filtrate:
5. Regulation of red blood cell synthesis ● Fluid that passes across filtration membrane
6. Regulation of vitamin D synthesis Proximal tubule:
● Where filtrate passes first
Components of the urinary system Loop of henle:
2 kidneys, 2 ureters, 1 urinary bladder, 1 urethra ● Contains descending and ascending loops
(fig 18.2a) ● Water and solutes pass through thin walls by
diffusion
Kidney characteristics Distal tubule:
● Bilateral retroperitoneal organs ● Structure between loop of henle and collecting duct
Shape and size: Collecting duct:
● Bean shaped ● Empties into calyces
● Weighs 5 ounces (bar of soap or size of fist) ● Carry fluid from cortex through medulla
Location: (fig 18.4)
● Between 12th thoracic and 3rd lumbar vertebra
Kidney structures Flow of filtrate through nephron
Renal capsule: 1. Renal corpuscle 5. Distal tubule
● Connective tissue around each kidney 2. Proximal tubule 6. Collecting duct
● Protects and acts as a barrier 3. Descending loop of henle 7. Papillary duct
Hilum: 4. Ascending loop of henle
● Indentation
● Contains renal artery, veins, nerves, ureter Blood flow through kidney
Renal sinus: 1. Renal artery 7. Efferent arteriole
● Contains renal pelvis, blood vessels, fat 2. Interlobar artery 8. Peritubular capillaries
Renal cortex: 3. Arcuate artery 9. Vasa recta
● Outer portion 4. Interlobular artery 10. Interlobular vein
Renal medulla: 5. Afferent arteriole 11. Arcuate vein
● Inner portion 6. Glomerulus 12. Interlobar vein
Renal pyramid: (fig 18.6)
● Junction between cortex and medulla
Calyx: Urine formation
● Tip of pyramids Urine formation involves 3 processes:
Renal pelvis: ● Filtration - occurs in the renal corpuscle
● Where calyces join ● Reabsorption - it involves removing substances
● Narrows to form ureter from the filtrate and placing back into the blood
(18.3) ● Secretion - it involves taking substances from the
blood at a nephron area other than the renal
Nephron corpuscle and putting back into the nephron tubule
● The nephron is the functional unit of the kidney (Fig 18.7)
● Each kidney has over one million nephrons Urine formation-filtration
● There are 2 types of nephrons in the kidney: ● Movement of water, ions, small molecules through
○ Juxtamedullary filtration membrane into bowman’s capsule
○ Cortical ● 19% of plasma becomes filtrate
● Approximately 15% are juxtamedullary ● 180 liters of filtrate are produced by the nephrons
● The nephron includes the renal corpuscle, proximal each day
tubule, loop of henle, distal tubule and collecting ● 1% of filtrate (1.8 liters) become urine rest is
duct reabsorbed
Nephron components ● Only small molecules are able to pass through
Renal corpuscle: filtration membrane
● Structure that contains a bowman’s capsule and ● Formation of filtrate depends on filtration pressure
glomerulus
 ● Filtration pressure forces fluid across filtration Renin-angiotensin-aldosterone mechanism
membrane 1. Renin acts on angiotensinogen to produce angiotensin I
● Filtration pressure is influenced by blood pressure 2. Angiotensin-converting enzyme converts angiotensin I to
(fig 18.8) angiotensin II
3. Angiotensin II causes vasoconstriction
Urine production-reabsorption 4. Angiotensin II acts on adrenal cortex to release
● 99% of filtrate is reabsorbed and reenters aldosterone
circulation 5. Aldosterone increases rate of active transport of Na+ in
● Proximal tubule is primary site for reabsorption of distal tubules and collecting duct
solutes and water 6. Volume of water in urine decreases
● Descending loop of henle concentrates filtrate (fig 18.14)
● Reabsorption of water and solutes from distal tubule
and collecting duct is controlled by hormones Antidiuretic hormone mechanism
(fig 18.10) 1. ADH is secreted by the posterior pituitary gland
2. ADH acts of kidneys, causing them absorb more water
Urine concentration (decrease urine volume)
● Descending limb of the loop of henle is a critical site 3. Result is to maintain a normal blood volume and blood
for water reabsorption pressure
● The filtrate leaving the proximal convoluted tubule is (fig 18.15)
further concentrated as it passes through the
descending limb of the loop of henle Atrial natriuretic hormone
● The mechanism for this water reabsorption is 1. ANH is secreted from cardiac muscle in the right atrium of
osmosis the heart when blood pressure increases
● The renal medulla contains very concentrated 2. ANH acts on kidneys to decrease Na+ reabsorption
interstitial fluid that has large amounts of Na+, Cl-, 3. Sodium ions remain in nephron to become urine
and urea 4. Increased loss of sodium and water reduced blood volume
● The wall of the thin segment of the descending limb and blood pressure
is highly permeable to water (fig 18.16, 17)
● As the filtrate moves through the medulla containing
the highly concentrated interstitial fluid, water is
Ureters and urinary bladder
reabsorbed out of the nephron by osmosis
Ureters:
● The water enters the vasa recta
● Small tubes that carry urine from renal pelvis of
● The ascending limb of the loop of henle dilutes the
kidney to bladder
filtrate by removing solutes
Urinary bladder:
● The thin segment of the ascending limb is not
● In pelvic cavity
permeable to water, but it is permeable to solutes
● Stores urine
● Consequently, solutes diffuse out of the nephron
● can hold a few ml to a maximum of 1000 milliliters
(fig 18.9,11,12,13)
Urethra:
● Tube that exits bladder
Urine production–secretion ● Carries urine from urinary bladder to outside of
● Tubular secretion removes some substances from body
the blood (fig 18.18)
● These substances include by-products of
metabolism that become toxic in high
Urine movement
concentrations and drugs or other molecules not
Micturition reflex:
normally produced by the body
● Activated by stretch of urinary bladder wall
● Tubular secretion occurs through either active or
● Action potentials are conducted from bladder to
passive mechanisms
spinal cord through pelvis nerves
● Ammonia secretion is passive
● Parasympathetic action potentials causes bladder
● Secretion of H+, K+, creatinine, histamine, and
to contract
penicillin is by active transport
● Stretching of bladder stimulates sensory neurons to
● These substances are actively transported into the
inform brain person needs to urinate
nephron
(fig 18.19)
● The secretion of H+ plays an important role in
regulating the body fluid pH
Body fluid compartments
Urine concentration and volume regulation ● The intracellular fluid compartment includes the
3 major hormonal mechanisms are involved in regulating fluid inside all the cells of the body
urine concentration and volume: ● Approximately two-thirds of all the water in the body
1. Renin-angiotensin-aldosterone is in the intracellular fluid compartment
2. The antidiuretic hormone (ADH) ● The extracellular fluid compartment includes all
3. The atrial natriuretic hormone the fluid outside the cells
 ● The extracellular fluid compartment includes, Potassium ions
interstitial fluid, plasma, lymph, and other special ● Electrically excitable tissues, such as muscles and
fluids, such as joint fluid, and cerebrospinal fluid nerves, are highly sensitive to slight changes in the
extracellular K+ concentration
Composition of fluids ● The extracellular concentration of K+ must be
● Intracellular fluid contains a relatively high maintained within a narrow range for these tissues
concentration of ions, such as K+, magnesium to function normally
(Mg2+), phosphate (PO43-), and sulfate (SO42-), ● Aldosterone plays a major role in regulating the
compared to the extracellular fluid concentration of K+ in the extracellular fluid
● It has a lower concentration of Na+, Ca2+, Cl-, and (fig 18.21)
HCO3- than does the extracellular fluid
Calcium ions
Exchange between fluid compartments ● The extracellular concentration of Ca2+ is
● The cell membranes that separate the body fluid maintained within a narrow range
compartments are selectively permeable ● Increases and decreases in the extracellular
● Water continually passes through them, but ions concentrations of Ca2+ have dramatic effects on
dissolved in the water do not really pass through the the electrical properties of excitable tissues
cell membrane ● Parathyroid hormone (PTH), secreted by the
● Water movement is regulated mainly by hydrostatic parathyroid glands, increases extracellular Ca2+
pressure differences and osmotic differences concentrations
between the compartments ● Calcitonin reduces the blood Ca2+ concentration
● Osmosis controls the movement of water between when it is too high
the intracellular and extracellular spaces
Phosphate and sulfate ions
Regulation of extracellular fluid composition ● Some ions, such as phosphate ions and sulfate ions
● Thirst regulation are reabsorbed by active transport in the kidneys
● Ion concentration regulation ● The rate of reabsorption is slow, so that if the
Thirst regulation concentration of these ions in the filtrate exceeds
● Water intake is controlled by the thirst center the nephron’s ability to reabsorb them, the excess is
located in the hypothalamus excreted into the urine
● When the concentration of ions in the blood ● As long as the concentration of these ions is low,
increases, it stimulates the thirst center to cause nearly all of them are reabsorbed by active
thirst transport
● When water is consumed, the concentrations of Regulation of acid-base balance
blood ions decreases, due to a dilution effect; this Buffers:
causes the sensation of thirst to decrease ● Chemicals resist change in pH of a solution
(fig 18.20) ● Buffers in body contain salts of weak acids or bases
Ion concentration regulation that combine with H+
● Regulating the concentrations of positively charged ● 3 classes of buffers: proteins, phosphate buffer,
ions, such as Na+, K+, and Ca2+, in the body fluids bicarbonate buffer
is particularly important Respiratory system involvement in acid-base:
● Action potentials, muscle contraction, and normal ● Responds rapidly to changes in pH
cell membrane permeability depend on the ● Increased respiratory rate raises blood pH (more
maintenance of a narrow range of these alkalotic) due to increased rate of carbon dioxide
concentrations elimination from the body
● Negatively charged ions, such as Cl-, are ● Reduced respiratory rate reduces pH (more acidic)
secondarily regulated by the mechanisms that due to decreased rate of carbon dioxide elimination
control the positively charged ions from the body
● The negatively charged ions are attracted to the Kidney involvement in acid-base:
positively charged ions; when the positively charged ● Nephrons secrete H+ into urine and directly
ions are transported, the negatively charged ions regulate pH of body fluids
move with them ● More H+ secretion if the pH is decreasing and less
H+ secretion if pH is increasing
(fig 18.22)
Sodium ions
● Are the dominant ions in the extracellular fluid Acidosis and alkalosis
● About 90 to 95% of the osmotic pressure of the ● Acidosis occurs when the pH of blood falls below
extracellular fluid results from sodium ions and from 7.35
the negative ions associated with them ● There are 2 types of acidosis based upon the
● Stimuli that control aldosterone secretion influence cause: respiratory and metabolic
the reabsorption of Na+ from nephrons of the ● Alkalosis occurs when the pH of blood increases
kidneys and the total amount of Na+ in the body above 7.45
fluids ● There are 2 types of alkalosis based upon the
● Sodium ions are also excreted in sweat cause: respiratory and metabolic