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To make pee, there are 3 steps...

 

1. Filtration

  • @ Bowman's Capsule

  • the cells form a selectively permeable membrane

    • ​water, NaCl, glucose, amino acids, H+, urea and uric acid are cool enough to go thru

    • B/c they're too big, plasma, proteins, Red Blood Cells and platelets cant come in :(

  • Glomerus does the filtering and it's hard core as it's 1.5 x the normal cappilary pressure

 

2. Reabsortion

  • Important solutes and water go back to blood​

  • Ion pumps transport k+, Na+ + Cl- in tubules which have mircovilli extentsions to increases surface area to reabsorb more

  • Water movement is controlled by aquaporins water channels

Reabsorption happens by active + passive transport:

NaCl Active Transport

Na+ is the leader as it is pumped from tubules into kidney cells so then Cl- follows by diffusion and water follows by osmosis

Water Passive Transport

1. Efferent arteriole blood is high in [plasma protein] and low in [water] so water leaves tubules into blood

 

2. Solutes leave tubules which makes an osmostic gradient: this makes the [ ] increase in the surrounding cells so water moves into them

 

When water reabsorbs, nephron's solutes are more concentrated

 

Urea is left to make pee

 

Material left in nephron = filtrate

 

3. Secretion

- Waste movement from blood to nephron

     -release toxins that aren't filtred

     -maintain electrolyte balance

   

*HCO3- is not secreted b/c it's a buffer to maintain blood pH

 

 

(Pearson, 2014)

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