Saturday 6 June 2015

 Nephron:

The nephrone is the where filtration of toxic materials from the blood takes place. We have many of them in each kidney.

In the centre of the kidney there is a cavity called the pelvis which leads to the ureter
 
Click here to watch the video about Nephron

Structure of Nephrone:

The nephrone starts with a cup shaped structure called Bowman’s capsule. Inside the Bowman’s capsule there is a very dense network of blood capillaries entering as capillaries from the renal artery and exiting as capillaries from the renal vein. This dense network of capillaries is called Glomerulus. The rest of the nephrone is a long coiled tube where materials filtered from the blood flow in. At some point the coiled tube becomes straight and is bent in a U shape tube, this part is called loop of Henle and it is surrounded by a network of capillaries from the renal vein, it is where reabsorption takes place. All nephrones end at a large tube called the Collecting duct where content of the nephrones are transported to the pelvis, to be secreted in the ureter

Click here to watch the video about functioning of Nephron


Ultrafiltration:

The blood in the renal artery contains large amounts of urea, glucose, water, mineral ions and some amino acids. When it reaches the glomerulus, the high pressure of the blood and the concentration gradient of these materials between the blood and the nephrone cause most of these substances to diffuse from the blood to the bowman’s capsule and become content of the nephrone, which is called glomerular filtrate (glomerular filtrate is a mixture of urea, water, glucose and mineral ions that diffused from the blood to the nephrone).

Reabsorption:

The glomerular filtrate moves in the nephrone till it reaches the loop of henle, which is surrounded by a dense network of blood capillaries of the renal vein. Here there is a concentration gradient of the content of the content of nephrone between the nephrone and blood. Both diffusion and active transport occur to ensure the complete reabsorption of valuable substances from the glomerular filtrate back to the blood; these substances are glucose and amino acids. Some water also moves by osmosis to the blood, as well as minerals.

That leaves urea, excess water and minerals to continue in the nephrone till it reaches the collecting duct and the pelvis. This mixture is called urine. Urine is transported from the pelvis to the urinary bladder by the ureters. It is them secreted out of the body through the urethra.,




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