Anaesthesia Fundamentals | Physiology | Renal Morphology, Blood Supply and Glomerular Filtration

Renal Morphology, Blood Supply and Glomerular Filtration
Session overview
Description
This session introduces you to the overall structure of the functional elements of the kidney and their blood supply, as well as providing an overview of glomerular filtration.

Learning objectives
By the end of this session you will be able to:

• List the main functional elements of the kidney and understand how they are organized
• Describe the structure and physiology of the glomerulus and the process of filtration
• Describe the organization of renal blood supply, and how renal blood flow is regulated

The human kidney has 1-1.5 million functional units called nephrons. Nephrons are blind-ending tubes, the blind end forming a Bowman's capsule around a knot of blood vessels.

In your role as an anaesthetist, it is important that you understand how the functional units of the kidney are organized and integrated with blood supply. This session will explain this alongside the glomerulus and the filtration process. Glomerular filtration is the first process in the formation of urine.