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The kidney has many functions, which a well-functioning kidney realizes by filtering blood in a process known as glomerular filtration. A major measure of kidney function is the glomerular filtration rate (GFR). The glomerular filtration rate is the flow rate of filtered fluid through 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 rate [1]
Filtration occurs in the glomerulus: one-fifth of the blood volume that enters the kidneys is filtered. Examples of substances reabsorbed are solute-free water, sodium, bicarbonate, glucose, and amino acids. Examples of substances secreted are hydrogen, ammonium, potassium and uric acid. The nephron is the structural and functional unit of the ...
One of the measures of kidney function is the glomerular filtration rate (GFR). Other tests that can assess the function of the kidneys include assessment of electrolyte levels such as potassium and phosphate, assessment of acid-base status by the measurement of bicarbonate levels from a vein, and assessment of the full blood count for anaemia.
In renal physiology, ultrafiltration occurs at the barrier between the blood and the filtrate in the glomerular capsule (Bowman's capsule) in the kidneys. As in nonbiological examples of ultrafiltration, pressure (in this case blood pressure) and concentration gradients lead to a separation through a semipermeable membrane (provided by the ...
The glomerulus and its surrounding Bowman's capsule constitute a renal corpuscle, the basic filtration unit of the kidney. [2] The rate at which blood is filtered through all of the glomeruli, and thus the measure of the overall kidney function, is the glomerular filtration rate.
The first step in urine formation is the filtration of blood in the kidneys. In a healthy human, the kidney receives between 12 and 30% of cardiac output, but it averages about 20% or about 1.25 L/min. The basic structural and functional unit of the kidney is the nephron.
Micrograph of proteinaceous material in Bowman's space, which is unspecific. It is present in about 5% of people aged over 60 years, [2] but also in for example hypertensive kidney disease. Measuring the glomerular filtration rate (GFR) is a diagnostic test of kidney function. [3] A decreased GFR may be a sign of kidney failure. [citation needed]