Gross!
Little Ball
System of Tubes
Renal Fizz
Urine Potpourri (yum!)
100
The tops of both kidneys are deep to these two long, curved bones.
What are the 11th and 12th ribs?
100
This simple squamous epithelial layer that surrounds the tuft of glomerular capillaries is named for an English microscopist and anatomist who described it in 1842.
What is Bowman's capsule?
100
This is the approximate number of nephrons in your body (assuming you have all your normal organs).
What is two million? (One million nephrons per kidney.)
100
The rate at which the glomerulus filters blood plasma is called this.
What is the glomerular filtration rate (GFR)?
100
This is another name for a glomerulus.
What is renal corpuscle?
200
This is the outer portion of the renal parenchyma, the only layer that contains glomeruli.
What is the cortex?
200
This artery divides up into about 20 capillary loops, which then terminate in the efferent artery.
What is the afferent artery?
200
Almost two-thirds of the sodium and water filtered by the glomerulus is reabsorbed in this portion of the nephron.
What is the proximal tubule?
200
This part of the filtration barrier prevents passage of large molecules, like albumin, from leaving the blood plasma.
What is the basal lamina?
200
The process by which the nephron actively brings a substance back into the circulation is called this.
What is reabsorption?
300
The inner portion of the renal parenchyma, formed of pyramid-shaped structures.
What is the medulla?
300
The single layer of squamous cells the comprise the capillary wall is called this.
What is the endothelium?
300
These two portions of the nephron are both described as "simple cuboidal epithelium with microvilli resting on the basal lamina."
What are the proximal and distal tubule?
300
These cells act as a fine sieve, preventing filtration of smaller (>70 kilodaltons) molecules.
What are podocytes?
300
The process by which a substance is actively moved into the nephron tubules is called this.
What is secretion?
400
Urine drains first into these roughly triangular-shaped tubes which drain into the renal pelvis.
What are calyces (singular calyx)?
400
These are the specialized cells that form a highly-interdigitated filter outside the capillary basal lamina.
What are podocytes?
400
This portion of the nephron is described as having "a small diameter about the size of a capillary with a wall of simple squamous epithelium."
What is the (thin) loop of Henle? (Named for Friedrich Gustav Jakob Henle (1809-1885), a German anatomist and physician, one of the first advocates of the germ theory of disease.)
400
This hormone results in the insertion of "aquaporins" into the collecting tubule, leading to greater water resorption in states of dehydration.
What is anti-diuretic hormone (ADH) or vasopressin?
400
This portion of the nephron is identifiable by its marked brush border, made of elongated microvilli that increase surface area, and mitochondrial arranged perpendicular to the basal lamina.
What is the proximal tubule?
500
These are the three major vessels or ducts leading to or from each kidney.
What are the renal artery, renal vein and the ureter?
500
Glomerular capillary loops consist of these three elements.
What are the endothelial cells, basal lamina and the adjacent mesangial cells?
500
This portion of the nephron can consist of either simple cuboidal or columnar epithelium, and is influenced by ADH (vasopressin).
What is the collecting tubule?
500
Relax! Small, water-soluble molecules like glucose and urea get filtered by this process, which doesn't need cell energy.
What is passive ultrafiltration?
500
No pressure: this cluster of important cells is tucked between the distal tubule and the vascular pole of the glomerulus, and secretes renin.
What is the macula densa?