NEET MDS Lessons
Physiology
The Kidneys
The kidneys are the primary functional organ of the renal system.
They are essential in homeostatic functions such as the regulation of electrolytes, maintenance of acid–base balance, and the regulation of blood pressure (by maintaining salt and water balance).
They serve the body as a natural filter of the blood and remove wastes that are excreted through the urine.
They are also responsible for the reabsorption of water, glucose, and amino acids, and will maintain the balance of these molecules in the body.
In addition, the kidneys produce hormones including calcitriol, erythropoietin, and the enzyme renin, which are involved in renal and hemotological physiological processes.
Anatomical Location
The kidneys are a pair of bean-shaped, brown organs about the size of your fist. They are covered by the renal capsule, which is a tough capsule of fibrous connective tissue.
Right kidney being slightly lower than the left, and left kidney being located slightly more medial than the right.
The right kidneys lie just below the diaphragm and posterior to the liver, the left below the diaphragm and posterior to the spleen.
Resting on top of each kidney is an adrenal gland (adrenal meaning on top of renal), which are involved in some renal system processes despite being a primarily endocrine organ.
They are considered retroperitoneal, which means that they lie behind the peritoneum, the membrane lining of the abdominal cavity.
The renal artery branches off from the lower part of the aorta and provides the blood supply to the kidneys.
Renal veins take blood away from the kidneys into the inferior vena cava.
The ureters are structures that come out of the kidneys, bringing urine downward into the bladder.
Internal Anatomy of the Kidneys
There are three major regions of the kidney:
1. Renal cortex
2. Renal medulla
3. Renal pelvis
The renal cortex is a space between the medulla and the outer capsule.
The renal medulla contains the majority of the length of nephrons, the main functional component of the kidney that filters fluid from blood.
The renal pelvis connects the kidney with the circulatory and nervous systems from the rest of the body.
Renal Cortex
The kidneys are surrounded by a renal cortex
The cortex provides a space for arterioles and venules from the renal artery and vein, as well as the glomerular capillaries, to perfuse the nephrons of the kidney. Erythropotein, a hormone necessary for the synthesis of new red blood cells, is also produced in the renal cortex.
Renal Medulla
The medulla is the inner region of the parenchyma of the kidney. The medulla consists of multiple pyramidal tissue masses, called the renal pyramids, which are triangle structures that contain a dense network of nephrons.
At one end of each nephron, in the cortex of the kidney, is a cup-shaped structure called the Bowman's capsule. It surrounds a tuft of capillaries called the glomerulus that carries blood from the renal arteries into the nephron, where plasma is filtered through the capsule.
After entering the capsule, the filtered fluid flows along the proximal convoluted tubule to the loop of Henle and then to the distal convoluted tubule and the collecting ducts, which flow into the ureter. Each of the different components of the nephrons are selectively permeable to different molecules, and enable the complex regulation of water and ion concentrations in the body.
Renal Pelvis
The renal pelvis contains the hilium. The hilum is the concave part of the bean-shape where blood vessels and nerves enter and exit the kidney; it is also the point of exit for the ureters—the urine-bearing tubes that exit the kidney and empty into the urinary bladder. The renal pelvis connects the kidney to the rest of the body.
Supply of Blood and Nerves to the Kidneys
• The renal arteries branch off of the abdominal aorta and supply the kidneys with blood. The arterial supply of the kidneys varies from person to person, and there may be one or more renal arteries to supply each kidney.
• The renal veins are the veins that drain the kidneys and connect them to the inferior vena cava.
• The kidney and the nervous system communicate via the renal plexus. The sympathetic nervous system will trigger vasoconstriction and reduce renal blood flow, while parasympathetic nervous stimulation will trigger vasodilation and increased blood flow.
• Afferent arterioles branch into the glomerular capillaries, while efferent arterioles take blood away from the glomerular capillaries and into the interlobular capillaries that provide oxygen to the kidney.
• renal vein
The veins that drain the kidney and connect the kidney to the inferior vena cava.
• renal artery
These arise off the side of the abdominal aorta, immediately below the superior mesenteric artery, and supply the kidneys with blood.
(RDS) Respiratory distress of Newborn
1. hyaline membrane disease of the new born
2. decrease in surfactant, Weak, Abnormal complience of chest wall
3. Small alveoli, difficult to inflate, Alveoli tent to collapse, many of varied sizes
4. decrease in O2 diffusion area, lung difficult to expand, in compliance
- it's the individual pressure exerted independently by a particular gas within a mixture of gasses. The air we breath is a mixture of gasses: primarily nitrogen, oxygen, & carbon dioxide. So, the air you blow into a balloon creates pressure that causes the balloon to expand (& this pressure is generated as all the molecules of nitrogen, oxygen, & carbon dioxide move about & collide with the walls of the balloon). However, the total pressure generated by the air is due in part to nitrogen, in part to oxygen, & in part to carbon dioxide. That part of the total pressure generated by oxygen is the 'partial pressure' of oxygen, while that generated by carbon dioxide is the 'partial pressure' of carbon dioxide. A gas's partial pressure, therefore, is a measure of how much of that gas is present (e.g., in the blood or alveoli).
- the partial pressure exerted by each gas in a mixture equals the total pressure times the fractional composition of the gas in the mixture. So, given that total atmospheric pressure (at sea level) is about 760 mm Hg and, further, that air is about 21% oxygen, then the partial pressure of oxygen in the air is 0.21 times 760 mm Hg or 160 mm Hg.
SPECIAL SOMATIC AFFERENT (SSA) PATHWAYS
Hearing
The organ of Corti with its sound-sensitive hair cells and basilar membrane are important parts of the sound transducing system for hearing. Mechanical vibrations of the basilar membrane generate membrane potentials in the hair cells which produce impulse patterns in the cochlear portion of the vestibulocochlear nerve (VIII)
Special somatic nerve fibers of cranial nerve VIII relay impulses from the sound receptors (hair cells) in the cochlear nuclei of the brainstem
These are bipolar neurons with cell bodies located in the spiral ganglia of the cochlea.
Vestibular System
The vestibulocochlear nerve serves two quite different functions.
The cochlear portion, conducts sound information to the brain,
The vestibular portion conducts proprioceptive information.
It is the central neural pathways
Special somatic afferent fibers from the hair cells of the macula utriculi and macula sacculi conduct information into the vestibular nuclei on the ipsilateral side of the pons and medulla.
These are bipolar neurons with cell bodies located in the vestibular ganglion.
Some of the fibers project directly into the ipsilateral cerebellum to terminate in the uvula, flocculus, and nodulus, but most enter the vestibular nuclei and synapse there.
Vision
The visual system receptors are the rods and cones of the retina.
Special somatic afferent fibers of the optic nerve (II) conduct visual signals into the brain
Fibers from the lateral (temporal) retina of either eye terminate in the lateral geniculate body on the same side of the brain as that eye.
SSA II fibers from the medial (nasal) retina of each eye cross over in the optic chiasm to terminate in the contralateral lateral geniculate body.
Area 17 is the primary visual area, which receives initial visual signals.
Neurons from this area project into the adjacent occipital cortex (areas 18 and 19) which is known as the secondary visual area. It is here that the visual signal is fully evaluated.
The visual reflex pathway involving the pupillary light reflex - in which the pupils constrict when a light is shined into the eyes and dilate when the light is removed.
Some SSA II fibers leave the optic tract before reaching the lateral geniculates, terminating in the superior colliculi instead.
From here, short neurons project to the EdingerWestphal nucleus (an accessory nucleus of III) in the midbrain, which serves as the origin of the preganglionic parasympathetic fibers of the oculomotor nerve (GVE III).
The GVE III fibers in turn project to the ciliary ganglia, from which arise the postganglionic fibers to the sphincter muscles of the iris, which constrict the pupils.
Ingestion: Food taken in the mouth is
- ground into finer particles by the teeth,
- moistened and lubricated by saliva (secreted by three pairs of salivary glands)
- small amounts of starch are digested by the amylase present in saliva
- the resulting bolus of food is swallowed into the esophagus and
- carried by peristalsis to the stomach.
1) Storage - the stomach allows a meal to be consumed and the materials released incrementally into the duodenum for digestion. It may take up to four hours for food from a complete meal to clear the stomach.
2) Chemical digestion - pepsin begins the process of protein digestion cleaving large polypeptides into shorter chains .
3) Mechanical digestion - the churning action of the muscularis causes liquefaction and mixing of the contents to produce acid chyme.
4) Some absorption - water, electrolytes, monosaccharides, and fat soluble molecules including alcohol are all absorbed in the stomach to some degree.
Concentration versus diluting urine
Kidney is a major route for eliminating fluid from the body to accomplish water balance. Urine excretion is the last step in urine formation. Everyday both kidneys excrete about 1.5 liters of urine.
Depending on the hydrated status of the body, kidney either excretes concentrated urine ( if the plasma is hypertonic like in dehydrated status ) or diluted urine ( if the plasma is hypotonic) .
This occurs thankful to what is known as countercurrent multiplying system, which functions thankfully to establishing large vertical osmotic gradient .
To understand this system, lets review the following facts:
1. Descending limb of loop of Henle is avidly permeable to water.
2. Ascending limb of loop of Henly is permeable to electrolytes , but impermeable to water. So fluid will not folow electrolytes by osmosis.and thus Ascending limb creates hypertonic interstitium that will attract water from descending limb.
Pumping of electrolytes
3. So: There is a countercurrent flow produced by the close proximity of the two limbs.
Juxtamedullary nephrons have long loop of Henle that dips deep in the medulla , so the counter-current system is more obvious and the medullary interstitium is always hypertonic . In addition, peritubular capillaries in the medulla are straigh ( vasa recta) in which flow is rapid and rapidly reabsorb water maintaining hypertonic medullary interstitium.
In distal tubules water is diluted. If plasma is hypertonic, this will lead to release of ADH by hypothalamus, which will cause reabsorption of water in collecting tubules and thus excrete concentrated urine.
If plasma is hypotonic ADH will be inhibited and the diluted urine in distal tubules will be excreted as diluted urine.
Urea contributes to concentrating and diluting of urine as follows:
Urea is totally filtered and then 50% of filtrated urea will be reabsorbed to the interstitium, this will increase the osmolarity of medullary interstitium ( becomes hypertonic ). Those 50% will be secreted in ascending limb of loop of Henle back to tubular fluid to maintain osmolarity of tubular fluid. 55% of urea in distal nephron will be reabsorbed in collecting ducts back to the interstitium ( under the effect of ADH too) . This urea cycle additionally maintain hypertonic interstitium.