What are the three major functions of the kidneys? - ✔️✔️-Excretion of wastes and
foreign chemicals
-Regulation of water and ion (salt) balance (pH/Bicarb)
-Secretion of hormones
How many liters of fluid do the kidneys filter per day? - ✔️✔️~180 liters/day
How man liters of urine does a human output per day? - ✔️✔️~1-2 liters/day
What is the normal blood volume of a human?How long does it take to filter your entire
plasma volume? - ✔️✔️3 Liters, ~45 minutes
What does filtrate consist of? - ✔️✔️Blood plasma without the proteins
What percentage of the filtrate that flows through the nephron is reabsorbed? What
does the remaining eventually become? - ✔️✔️99%. The remaining 1% becomes urine
How many times per day does the body filter the entire blood volume? - ✔️✔️60
times/day
What are the three major external organs associated with the renal system? -
✔️✔️Kidneys, Ureters, Bladder
What artery supplies blood to the kidneys? What does this artery branch into? -
✔️✔️Renal artery, becomes afferent arteriole
Where does the renal artery enter the kidney? - ✔️✔️The medial border of each kidney
Where are kidneys located? - ✔️✔️Peritoneally at the level of the lower thoracic/lumbar
vertebrae
What is the main purpose of the ureters and the bladder? - ✔️✔️Ureters bring urine
formed by the kidneys to the urinary bladder, where it is stored for excretion
What are the three major components of the internal anatomy of the kidney? -
✔️✔️Renal cortex, Renal medulla, Renal pelvis
What are the two subdivisions of the renal cortex? - ✔️✔️-Outer cortical region
, -Inner juxtamedullary region/corticomedullary region: within renal cortex and
interspersed throughout medulla
What are renal columns? What do they subdivide into? - ✔️✔️Extensions of the cortex,
project into the medulla and subdivide into the medullary pyramids
What is the apex/tip of each renal pyramid called? What do they project into? -
✔️✔️The renal papilla project into the minor calyx
When the minor calyces of many pyramids merge, what do they form? How many of
these does a typical kidney have? - ✔️✔️Major Calyx, typical kidney has 2-3
Where does the urine travel after the major calyx? - ✔️✔️The renal pelvis to be
transported to the ureter
What is osmolarity? - ✔️✔️The particle concentration
Briefly explain the osmotic gradient in the kidney. - ✔️✔️If you were to take an
osmonitor to sample the osmolarity in the kidney, you would find the outer cortex is 300
mOsm, while the inner medulla is 1200 mOsm.
What is the functional unit of the kidney? - ✔️✔️The nephron
What is the glomerulus? Is it part of the renal system? - ✔️✔️Not technically part of the
nephron, the glomerulus is a fenestrated capillary and acts as a critical connection
between blood and the nephron.
What is the relationship between the glomerulus and bowman's capsule called? What
process occurs here? - ✔️✔️Renal Corpuscle, where filtration of the blood coming into
the nephron occurs
How does blood enter the glomerulus? How does blood exit the glomerulus? - ✔️✔️-
Afferent arteriole: blood comes in
-Efferent arteriole: blood comes out
What are the 5 major components of the nephron? Which are located in the cortex, and
which are in the medulla? - ✔️✔️-Bowman's capsule: cortex
-Proximal convoluted tubule: cortex
-Loop of henle (descending and ascending): cortex and medulla
-Distal convoluted tubule: cortex
-Collecting duct: cortex and medulla
What is the primary site of reabsorption of materials from the nephron back into the
blood? - ✔️✔️Proximal Convoluted tubule