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The human urinary system, also known as the urinary tract or renal system, consists of the kidneys, ureters, bladder, and the urethra. The purpose of the urinary system is to eliminate waste from the body, regulate blood volume and blood pressure, control levels of electrolytes and metabolites , and regulate blood pH .
The renal circulation supplies the blood to the kidneys via the renal arteries, left and right, which branch directly from the abdominal aorta. Despite their relatively small size, the kidneys receive approximately 20% of the cardiac output .
It contains the renal corpuscles and the renal tubules except for parts of the loop of Henle which descend into the renal medulla. It also contains blood vessels and cortical collecting ducts. The renal cortex is the part of the kidney where ultrafiltration occurs. [2] Erythropoietin is produced in the renal cortex. [3]
The kidney is well supplied with lymphatic vessels, [114] which remove excess fluid with substances and macromolecules dissolved in it from the interstitium that fills the space between the tubules and blood vessels. [115] [116] The anatomy of the lymphatic system of the kidney is similar between mammals. [117]
Diagram showing the basic physiologic mechanisms of the kidney. The kidney's ability to perform many of its functions depends on the three fundamental functions of filtration, reabsorption, and secretion, whose sum is called renal clearance or renal excretion. That is: Urinary excretion rate = Filtration rate – Reabsorption rate + Secretion ...
Like the bony pelvis, the renal pelvis (/ ˈ r iː n əl ˈ p ɛ l v ɪ s /) gets its English name via Neo-Latin from the older Latin word pelvis, "basin", as in "wash basin". [4] In both cases the name reflects the shape of the structure, and in the case of the renal pelvis, it also reflects the function.
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In multilobar kidneys, the pyramids are separated from each other by dipped into the kidney areas of cortical tissue known as the renal columns. [61] Blood enters the kidney through the renal artery, which in the multilobar kidney then branches in the region of the renal pelvis into large interlobar arteries that pass through the renal columns.