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Kidneys

© Yasser Anathallee

This year I'm doing a module called "Kidney and Urinary Tract". So, I'm going to talk a bit about webpages related to such. This week we'll have a look at one from a site called "How Stuff Works". I think that the name is self explanatory, and I've included links to pages on this site in previous articles. This page is entitled "How Your Kidneys work". http://www.howstuffworks.com/kidney.htm

This page is really quite complete for an introduction to the kidney. It starts with the anatomical location of the kidney and goes on to describe its internal structures, and gives the function of each region. There is an animation which is quite interesting. It shows the reabsorption process in various segments of the nephron. A description of the processes taking place in the kidney: filtration, reabsorption and secretion follows. Then it talks about the general functions of the kidneys, explains the electrolyte balance and maintenance of the water volume, involving the Loop of Henle, antidiuretic hormone (ADH), etc. Other sub-tiles include topics relevant to medicine and everyday life as well: -Why You Urinate Soon After Drinking a Large Glass of Water -Why You Have Concentrated Urine in the Morning -Altering Blood's Acid/Base Balance. The management of acid and alkaline diets. -Influencing Blood Pressure -How the Kidney Causes Blood Vessels to Constrict -How the Kidney Increases the Circulating Blood Volume -Kidneys and Calcium -Diuretics

At the end there is a list of links to other related sites, some of which I'll now talk about.

The first one is named "Normal Renal Physiology". http://www.ppol.com/brg/BRGcambells.html

This pages deals with the subjecty in more detail. The language itself is more technical. It may not be the best page to start with. I'd recommend you to start with "How Your Kidneys Work" for an introduction to the topic before moving to this one.

The next page on the list is entitled "The Kidney": http://www.ultranet.com/~jkimball/Biolog...

This one is less detailed than the previous, its subtitles include: -The Nephron -Formation of Urine -Diabetes insipidus -Liddle's Syndrome -Tubular Secretion -The Kidney and Homeostasis -Hormones of the Kidneys -The Artificial Kidney -An artificial kidney As can be seen from the list of subtitles, this article touches more or less the pathologies associated with the kidney. Also of interest is the part on artificial kidney and dialysis.

I guess that these webpages would be useful supplements to your textbooks. There are many more sites dedicated to the kidney out there, help yourselves!

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