Kidney

Everardo, Sabrina, Conrad, Amber

Kidney Diagram

It Belongs To The Excretory System!

Some Functions Of The Kidney• To separate minerals, salts,

toxins, and other waste products in the blood

• Conserves water, salts, and electrodes

• Regulates certain body fluids and releases extra water

• Stimulates red blood cell production

• Reabsorbs calcium and phosphorus back into the body

How does the kidney work with other systems?

• The kidneys releases extra water in the blood, along with other toxins, which make up urine. This urine then goes through the rest of the excretion system.

Can you live without a kidney?• If one kidney is present, that

kidney has the ability to adjust to filter as much as two normal kidneys.

• You must have at least one kidney to be able to sustain life. Without a kidney, you would not be able to regulate the body's fluid volume, mineral composition and acidity by excreting and reabsorbing water and inorganic electrolytes.

Kidney Replacements and Adaptations

• Hemodialysis is a method for removing waste products such as urea, as well as free water from the blood when the kidneys are in renal failure.

• Over 300,000 Americans are dependent on hemodialysis as treatment for renal failure.

Hemodialysis• In hemodialysis, the

patient's blood is pumped through the blood compartment of a dialyzer, exposing it to a partially permeable membrane. The dialyzer is composed of thousands of tiny synthetic hollow fibers. The fiber wall acts as the semipermeable membrane.

Hemofiltration

• Hemofiltration is a similar treatment to hemodialysis, but it makes use of a different principle. The blood is pumped through a dialyzer or "hemofilter" as in dialysis, but no dialysate is used.

Intestinal Dialysis

• In intestinal dialysis, the diet is supplemented with soluble fibers such as acacia fiber, which is digested by bacteria in the colon. This bacterial growth increases the amount of nitrogen that is eliminated in fecal waste.

Kidney Failure

References

• http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=how-can-you-live-without