Renal, fluids and acid–base
Glomerular filtration, clearance, tubular transport, water, sodium, potassium and acid–base balance.
37 pages
Exam priority: high
- ADH, thirst and water balanceRegulation · The brain senses how concentrated the blood is
- Distal tubule and collecting ductMechanism · The end of the nephron does the fine tuning: how much salt, water, potassium and acid leaves in…
- Glomerular filtration: the barrier and its determinantsMechanism · The kidneys filter about 180 litres of plasma a day
- Metabolic acidosis, the anion gap and compensationMechanism · In metabolic acidosis the blood loses bicarbonate or gains acid
- Potassium balanceRegulation · Almost all potassium sits inside cells
- Reading an arterial blood gas step by stepMeasurement · A blood gas shows the blood's pH, CO₂, bicarbonate and oxygen
- Reasoning through fluid and electrolyte imbalancesTable to know · Each electrolyte problem makes sense with three questions: did it move into or out of cells…
- Renal clearanceMeasurement · Clearance tells how much plasma the kidney cleans of a substance per minute
- Respiratory acidosis and alkalosisMechanism · Breathing too little builds up CO₂ and acidifies the blood; breathing too much blows off CO₂ and…
- Sodium and extracellular volume regulation (with natriuretic peptides)Regulation · The body's total sodium decides how much fluid sits outside the cells
- The countercurrent mechanism, urea recycling and urine concentrationMechanism · The kidney salts its medulla so it can pull water out of urine when needed
- Transport in the loop of HenleMechanism · The loop of Henle separates salt from water: one limb lets water out and the other pumps salt…
- Where and how diuretics actMechanism · Each diuretic blocks a salt transporter in one stretch of the nephron
Exam priority: medium
- Buffers and the Henderson–Hasselbalch equationConcept · Buffers soak up surplus acid or base within seconds and stop blood pH from swinging sharply
- Daily water balance and thirstRegulation · Each day we take in and lose about 2.5 L of water; thirst controls what goes in and the kidneys…
- Dehydration and fluid overloadMechanism · Too little or too much fluid changes blood pressure, pulse, urine and skin; the kidney tries to…
- Fluid shifts between compartmentsMechanism · Water moves between cells and the fluid around them toward wherever more particles are dissolved
- Functional anatomy of the nephronConcept · Each kidney has around a million nephrons: a filter (the glomerulus) and a long tube that…
- Glucose transport maximum and renal thresholdMeasurement · The kidney reclaims all filtered glucose up to a limit; when blood glucose goes past it, glucose…
- IV fluids: tonicity and where they goConcept · Each IV fluid ends up in a different part of the body depending on what is in it: in the plasma…
- Measuring GFR and plasma flow: inulin, creatinine, PAH and filtration fractionMeasurement · How we measure how much the kidneys filter and how much blood they get, using substances the…
- Metabolic alkalosis and its compensationMechanism · When there is too much bicarbonate in the blood, pH rises; the lungs breathe less to compensate…
- Micturition and the bladder reflexRegulation · The bladder fills while relaxed and empties through a reflex coordinated by the sacral cord and…
- Mixed acid–base disordersMeasurement · Sometimes two or three acid–base problems happen at once; they show up because the compensation…
- Physiology of acute and chronic kidney failureMechanism · When the kidneys filter too little, potassium, acid, water and wastes build up and kidney…
- Physiology of dialysisMechanism · Dialysis cleans blood across a thin membrane: wastes diffuse out into a cleansing fluid, and…
- Proximal tubule transportMechanism · The first part of the tubule takes back two-thirds of the filtered salt and water and nearly all…
- Renal blood flow, autoregulation and tubuloglomerular feedbackRegulation · The kidney keeps its flow and filtration nearly constant even when blood pressure rises or falls…
- Renal handling of calcium, phosphate and magnesiumMechanism · The kidney decides how much calcium, phosphate and magnesium the body keeps; each one is…
- Renal handling of H⁺ and bicarbonateMechanism · The kidney reclaims all filtered bicarbonate and makes new bicarbonate by excreting the acid…
- Tubular disorders by nephron segmentTable to know · Each nephron segment has its own transporters; when one fails, the urine and blood tests show a…
- Tubular fluid-to-plasma ratios along the nephronMeasurement · Comparing a solute's level in the tubule with its level in plasma shows, segment by segment…
- Urine dilution, free water and osmotic diuresisMeasurement · The kidney can excrete water without salt (dilute urine) or hold on to it; free-water clearance…
- What the kidneys do: functions and the three basic processesConcept · The kidneys clean the blood, keep its water, salts and acidity steady, help control blood…
For completeness
- Tubular secretion of organic acids and basesMechanism · The proximal tubule pulls many drugs and wastes out of the blood and dumps them into urine, even…
- Urine transport: ureter peristalsis and bladder fillingMechanism · Waves of muscle squeeze urine down the ureters; the bladder stretches to hold it with little…
- Where extra fluid goes: blood volume vs interstitial volumeMechanism · Small fluid gains are shared between blood and tissues; once tissue pressure turns positive…
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Educational physiology content; not a diagnostic or treatment guide and no substitute for a health professional's advice. Values are approximate references. No doses are given.
Representative model, for educational purposes only.