chemical reactions in the kidney

[Sindre]

Hi, i am doing a project about the inner organ system of the mammol. I could really use some information about the kidney and the chemical process and rections inside it. Would appreciate all the help i can get:-)

[ecoli]

There aren't really any chemical reactions that take place, but a lot of diffusion and osmosis is occuring.

 

http://users.rcn.com/jkimball.ma.ultranet/BiologyPages/K/Kidney.html

[mattbimbo]

well i don't agree - there are recent reports (last 5-10 years) that the kidney produces up to 20% of the bodies glucose - in fact gluconeogenesis by the kidney is considered to be constant and doesn't undergo circadian rythyms unlike gluconeogeneis by the liver - and in conditions of liver damage, gluconeogenesis by the liver increases - in the same situation the kidney will produce bile acids.

also the kidney is the site of the adrenal glands... which i wouldn't want to be without.

[prion]

The basics - the kidney kind of 'decides' what the body will excrete in the urine and what it will keep. When blood passes through the kidneys (all the body's blood will pass through many times each day) then nearly all the water and small molecules etc are filtered out and separated. from the cells. This includes things like glucose, sodium, potassium (the 'salts' in the blood) and lots of waste products. The kidney then controls what bits of the filtered liquid are needed and they get put back into the blood. For example, the brain tells the kidney if the body is short of water, and then the kidney will put more water back into the blood and less into the urine. Other hormones are very important in controlling what other ions and things the kidney puts back into the blood. All of this doesn't just affect the concentration of things in the blood, it also affects the pH of the blood and the blood pressure.

 

The kidney does some other chemical reactions, like it activates vitamin D, which you need to absorb and use calcium.

[mattbimbo]

just to continue the liver-kidney axis: vitamin D is first activated in the liver then the kidney.

[ecoli]

also the kidney is the site of the adrenal glands... which i wouldn't want to be without.

 

Adrenal glands are on the kidneys... they aren't really considered the same system, are they?

[mattbimbo]

you are right the adrenal glands lie adjacent to the kidneys, but still i wouldn't want to be without them.