3.

4 Homeostasis in Humans
 The concept of homeostasis
• Process of regulating physical and
chemical factors in the internal
environment.
• Physical factors- body temperature and
blood pressure
• Chemical factors- osmotic pressure, sugar
level and pH level.
• Homeostasis occur through a –ve
feedback system.
• Mechanism of –ve feedback acts as
corrective measure to restore the factor
that deviates from the normal range back
to its normal condition.
• A –ve feedback system usually involve:
a) Condition that cause the level of a
particular factor to deviate from a normal
level.
b) These change are detect by receptors.
c) Receptors communicate the changes to
the effectors by means of hormones or
the nervous system.
d) A response is triggered which oppose
the changes by corrective mechanism to
restore the factor back to its normal level.
e) The return of the factor to the normal
level is detected by the receptor and the
corrective response is turned off.
 Normal level

Rise to Fall to
normal level normal level

Corrective Corrective
mechanism mechanism
by –ve by –ve
feedback feedback

Fall to Rise to
normal level normal level

Normal level

A generalised negative feedback system

 The Regulation of Water Balance by
Kidney
• Kidney involve in regulating the water
balance in the blood (the blood osmotic
pressure).
• When large of water quantity is consumed,
the blood osmotic pressure is lowered.
• To regulate the water balance and
maintain osmotic pressure in blood, kidney
will produce a large volume of urine to be
excreted.
 Structure of kidney
• Human kidneys are bean-shaped.
• Kidney enclosed within a protective fibrous
capsule. There are three tubes arising from
each kidney.
a) Renal artery- carry oxygenated blood to
kidney. The blood also rich in excretory
products such as urea and mineral salts.
b) Renal vein- carry deoxygenated blood away
from the kidney. The blood has less urea and
salts.
c) Ureter- carry urine from the kidney to the
urinary bladder.
• Longitudinal section of kidney shows
three distinct region:
a) Cortex (outer region)
b) Medulla (inner region)
c) Pelvis (central cavity in which the ureter
directly connect to)
• Each kidney consists of millions of
microscopic tubules- nephrons
• Each nephron can be up to 14mm long,
consist of:
a) Bowman’s capsule
b) Proximal convoluted tubule Uriniferous
c) Loop of Henle tubule
(kidney
d) Distal convoluted tubule,
tubule)
which open into collecting
duct
• Bowman’s capsule is a cup shaped
structure and is located in the cortex of
kidney.
• Bowman’s capsule has a network of
capillaries called glomerulus.
• Glomerulus is supplied with blood via an
afferent arteriole which arise from a
branch of the renal artery. Blood is carried
away from the glomerulus through the
efferent arteriole.
• The efferent arteriole branches into a
network of capillaries to surround the
tubule before it enter a branch of renal
vein.
• Wall of Bowman’s capsule and the
capillaries of glomerulus are only one-cell
thick and permeable to small molecules.
• The uriniferous tubule which continues
with the Bowman’s capsule consist of
three main parts:
a) Proximal convoluted tubule (in cortex)
b) Loop of Henle (U-shaped and located in
the medulla)
c) Distal convoluted tubule (in cortex and
joined to the collecting duct)
• Direction of blood flow in kidney:
renal artery– afferent arteriole–
glomerulus– efferent arteriole– blood
capillaries surrounding the uriniferous
tubule– venule– renal vein.
• Hence, there are two capillary network in
kidney: glomerulus and capillaries
surround uriniferous tubule.
• All the constituents of blood plasma except
plasma proteins and RBC are filtered out
of the glomerulus into the cavity of
Bowman’s capsule.
• The flow direction of the filtrate in the
kidney as:
Bowman’s capsule– proximal convoluted
tubule– loop of Henle– distal convoluted
tubule– collecting duct– pelvis– ureter–
urinary bladder– urethra.
• The filtrate that is drained into the pelvis of
kidney is called urine.
 Process of Urine Formation
• The urine formation involve three main
processes:
a) Ultrafiltration
b) Reabsorption
c) Secretion
 Ultrafiltration process (Bowman’s
capsule and glomerulus)
• Blood enters glomerulus through afferent
arteriole and leaves through the efferent
arteriole.
• Blood pressure in the afferent arteriole is
high because it is derived from the renal
artery which branches from aorta.
• The diameter of efferent arteriole is
smaller than the afferent arteriole. So,
there is a high resistance in blood flow.
• This produce a high hydrostatic pressure
in glomerulus.
• This will cause most of the constituents of
plasma to be filtered out the glomerulus
into the cavity of the Bowman’s capsule.
• The process where all the constituents of
blood plasma (exp: RBC, platelets, protein
plasma) are filtered under high hydrostatic
pressure into Bowman’s capsule is
ultrafiltration.
• The fluid filtered into Bowman’s capsule
is called glomerulus filtrate.
• The glomerulus filtrate consists of mainly
dissolved small molecules such as
inorganic ions (sodium ions, glucose,
amino acids and urea)
• The ultrafiltration process occur at a
higher rate in the glomerulus compared
with other capillaries because:
a) The hydrostatic pressure in glomerulus is
higher than other capillaries. ?
b) The capillaries of glomerulus are longer
than the other capillaries in the body.
c) The capillary walls of the glomerulus
have pores which cause its higher
permeability than other capillaries.
 Reabsorption process
• From the Bowman’s capsule, the
glomerular filtrate flows into the uriniferous
tubule.
• Reabsorption process occurs along the
whole uriniferous tubule. Essential solutes
and water in the filtrate are reabsorbed
into the blood capillaries that surround the
tubule.
• At the proximal convoluted tubule:
a) About 75-80% of water is reabsorbed
back into the blood capillaries by
osmosis. This occurs because the
glomerular filtrate is hypotonic to the
blood plasma.
b) All glucose, amino acids and some
minerals ions (Na+ and Cl-) in the tubule
are reabsorbed into the bloodstream by
active transport.
• At the loop of Henle:
a) About 15% of water is reabsorbed
through osmosis on the descending limb
which is permeable to water but not to
other solutes.
b) Sodium ions and chloride ions are
actively transported out of the filtrate on
the ascending limb which is impermeable
to water.
• At the distal convoluted tubule and the
collecting duct:
a) The amount of water and inorganic ions that
will be reabsorbed from the filtrate depends on
the body’s needs and is controlled by
endocrine system.
b) The rate of reabsorption of water and salts is
affected by the quantity of water and salts
consumed.
c) It is controlled by hormone as the walls of the
distal convoluted tubule and collecting duct are
more permeable to water if antidiuretic
hormone (ADH) is present and more
permeable to salts if aldosterone hormone is
present.
c) Urea is not reabsorbed throughout the
nephron, excreted in urine.
• The remaining filtrate in the tubule which
is channeled into pelvis of the kidney is
called urine.
• If plenty of water from the filtrate is
reabsorbed in the distal convoluted
tubule and the collecting duct, then the
amount of urine produced is little and
concentrated.
• If less water is reabsorbed from the filtrate,
a large amount of diluted urine is
produced.
• Urine consist of 96% water, 2.5%
nitrogenous waste products such as urea,
uric acid and creatinine, 1.5% inorganic
ions and traces of bile pigments.
• Urine is carried by the ureter from the
kidney to the urinary bladder to be stored
temporarily and excreted through the
urethra.
 Secretion process
• Process where unwanted substances
(urea, uric acid, ammonia, drugs, alcohol,
excess salts & water) in the blood are
transported from the capillaries
surrounding nephron into the kidney
tubule.
• Secretion process helps to regulate the pH
level of the blood.
• For example: when blood is too acidic, the
H+ are secreted. If blood to alkaline, HCO3-
are secreted.
• Secretion plays an important role in
adjusting urine composition as it passes
through the kidney tubule.
 Osmoregulation
• Process of regulating the blood pressure
by regulating the water content and the
concentration of salts in the body.
• Kidney carry out osmoregulation by
coordinating the rate of reabsorption of
water and salts during the formation of
urine.
• The amount of water and salts in the blood
will determine the osmotic pressure in the
blood.
• Reabsorption of water is controlled by
antidiuretic hormone (ADH) which is
released by pituitary gland.
• Reabsorption of salts is controlled by
aldosterone hormone which is produced
by adrenal gland.
 Mechanism of Osmoregulation
a) When blood osmotic pressure is high:
• Blood osmotic pressure is raised when
water is lost excessively through
sweating or after a salty meal.
• The high osmotic pressure is detected by
osmoreceptors in hypothalamus.
• The pituitary gland is stimulated to
release the ADH.
• Adrenal gland is less stimulated and thus
less aldosterone hormone is released.
• ADH increased the permeability of the wall
of distal convoluted tubule and the
collecting duct toward the water.
• So, more water and less salt are
reabsorbed from the tubule in to the blood
capillaries.
• This lowers the blood osmotic pressure to
its optimum level.
• A small amount of concentrated urine is
produce
b) When the blood osmotic pressure is low:
• Blood osmotic pressure is lowered when
excessive amount of water is consumed.
• Detected by osmoreceptors in
hypothalamus
• Adrenal gland is stimulated to release
aldosterone hormone.
• Pituitary gland less stimulated and less
ADH released.
• Aldosterone hormone cause the distal
convoluted tubule to more permeable to
salts.
• So, more salts are reabsorbed from the
tubule into blood capillaries.
• This increase the blood osmotic pressure
to its optimum level.
• A large amount of dilute urine is produced.
Consequences of Impaired Kidney
Function
• For patient with impaired kidney function, the
kidney can’t remove the excess water, mineral
salts or urea. Hence these substances remain in
blood.
• Kidney that are damage by disease or injury fail
to carry out ultrafiltration at glomerulus. Thus
unable to regulate the blood osmotic pressure,
filter the blood and remove the unwanted waste
products.
• These problem can be overcome through
haemodialysis.
• Haemodialysis is the treatment for patient
with impaired kidney function to filter the
blood by dialysis using an artificial kidney
machine.