Urinary system kidneys
The kidneys are probably the most important organ in the urinary system. The pretty much do all the work of filtering the bloodstream of all it’s chemical elements that are unwanted creating levels of fluids that achieve homeostasis. The powerhouse of the kidneys is it’s smallest of units the nephron there are millions of units which produce urine. The nephron is part of he kidney that is in a shape of a tiny funnel which has a very long stem. The top of the nephron is cup shaped and is called the Bowman’s capsule. Another portion of the Bowman’s capsule is the glomerulus in which a network of blood capillaries. This is how the nephron is able to clean the bloodstream. The three processes that it use is filtration, reabsorption, and secretion.
Filtration by the nephron is the production of urine, the nephron also reabsorbes from the renal tubules to blood capillaries water, glucose and sodium allowing the kidney to create a equilibrum of fluids in the blood stream. Water is reabsorbed by the nephron through the process of osmosis or reabsorption.
Lets talk about dysfunction of the kidneys. If glucose is found in the urine above a normal level it is called glycosuria. The glucose is secreted which just happens to be the opposite process of reabsorption. The secretion process can also secrete hydrogen ions, potassium ions, ammonia, and certain drugs that have been ingested that are in the bloodstream.
Urine of the lack of it is called anuria, just a small amount of urine is called alogura, and polyuria is an unusually large amount of urine production. All of these disorders are common amount elderly because of the body’s slow response back to homeostasis. As anyone that has had kidney stones can atest to the ureters have a vast amount of nerve ends in them and can cause huge amounts of pain as the sediment moves along these hallow tubes. Nepheopathy is just a another name of kidney disease which can easily encompass any of these disorders. Pain caused by the passage of a kidney stone is called renal colic.
