Physiology of Nephron

By: Vinod singh B.Pharm

ITM,UNIVERSITYGWALIOR

1. A nephron is a structure and function unit of a kidney.

2. A kidney contains about a million nephron.

3. It is about 3 cm long and 20-30 nm in diameter.

4. Nephrons are of two types : (a)-cortical (b)-juxtamedullary

NEPHRON

Nephrons -

Renal corpuscle • Bowman’s capsule • Glomerulus

Renal tubule Proximal convolutes tubule (PCT)

• Loop of Henle• Distal convoluted tubule

(DCT)

Nephron structures and functions Glomerulus

• The glomerulus is

surrounded by Bowman's capsule

• It is a network of capillaries that performs the first step of filtering blood.

• operates as a nonspecific filter - removes both useful and non-useful material

Nephron structures and functions Bowman’s Capsule

• It is double walled cup-shaped.

• transfers filtrate from the glomerulus to the Proximal Convoluted Tubule (PCT)

Proximal Convoluted Tubule (PCT)

Lower part of Bowman’s capsule leads in to PCT.

It lies in the renal cortex..

They reabsorbs most of the useful substances of the filtrate: sodium (65%), water (65%), bicarbonate (90%), chloride (50%), glucose (nearly 100%)

Nephron structures and functions The loop of Henle

• U-shaped tube that consists of a descending limb and an ascending limb.

• Its primary role is to concentrate the salt in the interstitium, the tissue surrounding the loop

Nephron structures and functions Descending Limb of the Loop of Henle

• fully permeable to water and completely impermeable to solutes (salt particles)

• receives filtrate from the PCT, allows water to be absorbed and passes “salty” filtrate to the next segment.

“Saves water and passes the salt”

Ascending Limb of the loop of Henle• impermeable to water and actively

transports (reabsorbs) salt (NaCl) to the interstitial fluid of the pyramids in the medulla.

“Saves salt and passes the water.”

• the passing filtrate becomes dilute

Nephron structures and functions Distal Convoluted

Tubule (DCT)• It is highly coiled part

of nephron• Variably active portion

of the nephron

• receives dilute fluid from the ascending limb of the loop of Henle

Nephron structures and functions Collecting Duct• variably active portion of

the Nephron• Collecting duct is not a

part of structure of nephroan.

• The last segment to save water for the body

Nephrons has the following function- 1-Nephron remove urea and uric acid from the blood 2-Nephron regulate blood pressure. 3-Nephron also remove pigments,drugs,poisons,excess vitamins from the blood. 4-It regulates the amount of mineral salts in the body. 5-Also regulate blood pH.

THANKYOU