Unit 7 Written Assignment
Name Withdrawn for Peer Assessment
HS 2211 - Human Anatomy and Physiology
Instructor: Whitney Oberndorf
The University of The People
5/25/2022
Introduction
The urinary system is especially important in regulating blood pressure, water absorption,
and eliminating wastes from the body (OpenStax, 2018). Failure or decreasing function of the
urinary system are caused by nutrient consumption or related organ disturbances (OpenStax,
2018). One disturbance that can lead to damaging effects is the intake of elevated levels of
sodium, leading to the clinical diagnosis hypertension (OpenStax, 2018). The substance sodium
plays an important part in circulating blood and can cause health issues if sodium levels are high
(OpenStax, 2018) The following paragraphs will explain how elevated levels of sodium disturb
the kidneys which lowers the waste of water and increase blood pressure (OpenStax, 2018). High
blood pressure over time can result in cardiac issues, and renal failure (OpenStax, 2018).
The Kidney's
An important organ within the urinary system is the kidney. The kidney helps transport
and export excess water from the human body through sifting the blood through the kidney
(OpenStax, 2018). Within the kidney it is the role of the nephrons that eliminate the toxins from
blood and absorb water to be excreted later. The most important portion of the nephron includes
a brush border made up of cuboidal cells and microvilli to process solutions: sodium, glucose,
and chloride (OpenStax, 2018). The movement of these substances such as sodium move in and
out of the kidney into the bloodstream by passing from the lumen through the proximal
convoluted tubule cell layer into the interstitial space and out to the bloodstream (OpenStax.
2018).
Functions of The Kidneys
To transfer in and out of the kidney to the bloodstream and vice versa different modes of
transportation occur such as: active transport, diffusion, facilitated diffusion, secondary active
transport, and osmosis (OpenStax, 2018). The kidney resorbs most of the sodium using active
transport (OpenStax, 2018). Active transports functions by using ATP (Adenosine triphosphate)
energy to move sodium across the membrane from a low concentration to high concentration
(OpenStax, 2018). In a scenario where sodium levels are normal, sodium transfers out of the
kidney using sodium/potassium pump which moves sodium out of a lower concentration
environment into the higher concentration environment (OpenStax, 2018). On the other hand,
when sodium is taken in excess it causes a disturbance to kidney substance levels being
balanced. Increasing salt intake affects aldosterone and glucocorticoid hormones, and these
hormones help balance the levels of water and salt in the body (Wein, H., 2017). Having a diet
high in salt then in turn increased the amount of salt being excreted to the bloodstream but
lowered the amount of water being eliminated from the body (Wein, H., 2017).
A Kidney Related Disorder
Hypertension is a clinical disorder which affects the healthy functions of the kidney
within the urinary tract system. When the body retains higher volumes of water it increases blood
flow and causes hypertension (OpenStax, 2018). One effect