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Human A&P BIO 304 · American River College ← Course home (Week 8)

BIO 304 . WEEK 8 . MONDAY . LAB WORKBOOK

Kidney Anatomy and Glomerular Filtration

Gross kidney structure, the nephron, and how filtration starts.

Print this page. You will draw your own diagrams from the directions below, then hand-label the structures listed. Drawing by hand is the integrity mechanism for this course.

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Part 1 of 2

Anatomy Lab

1A. What you will draw

The kidney is built of about a million tiny functional units called nephrons. Each nephron starts by filtering blood at the glomerulus. Today you'll draw the kidney from outside in and one nephron in detail.

Box A. Kidney in coronal section + nephron schematic

Directions

  1. Left half: draw a kidney cut in half (coronal section, kidney bean shape).
  2. Label the outer cortex (granular, lighter), then the inner medulla containing several renal pyramids (cone-shaped). Tip of each pyramid (renal papilla) points into a minor calyx. Minor calyces converge into major calyces, which empty into the renal pelvis, which empties into the ureter. Label every structure.
  3. Add the renal artery (entering) and renal vein (leaving) at the hilum.
  4. Right half: draw a single nephron schematic. Start with the glomerulus inside Bowman's capsule (in the cortex). Continue through the proximal convoluted tubule (PCT, in cortex), down into the loop of Henle (which dips into the medulla, with a thin descending limb and a thick ascending limb), then back up to the distal convoluted tubule (DCT, in cortex), and finally into the collecting duct (which descends through the medulla and empties into the renal papilla).
  5. Label every nephron segment.

Box B. Glomerulus and Bowman's capsule close-up

Directions

  1. Draw the glomerulus as a tuft of capillaries enclosed inside Bowman's capsule (a cup-like structure).
  2. Show the afferent arteriole (larger diameter) entering the glomerulus, and the efferent arteriole (smaller diameter) leaving the glomerulus. Label both.
  3. Note: the difference in arteriole diameters creates high pressure inside the glomerular capillaries, which is what drives filtration.
  4. Draw the filtration barrier: capillary endothelial cells (with pores), the glomerular basement membrane (negatively charged, blocks proteins), and the podocyte foot processes (forming filtration slits). Label all three.
  5. Show filtered fluid (filtrate) passing into Bowman's space and then into the PCT.
  6. Note: filtrate contains water, ions, glucose, amino acids, urea (small things). It excludes RBCs, WBCs, platelets, and large proteins (these stay in the blood).

1C. Structures to label (22)

After you finish each drawing, label every structure below directly on your sketch.

  1. Renal cortex
  2. Renal medulla
  3. Renal pyramid
  4. Renal papilla
  5. Minor calyx
  6. Major calyx
  7. Renal pelvis
  8. Ureter
  9. Renal artery
  10. Renal vein
  11. Hilum
  12. Glomerulus
  13. Bowman's capsule
  14. Bowman's space
  15. Afferent arteriole
  16. Efferent arteriole
  17. Proximal convoluted tubule (PCT)
  18. Loop of Henle
  19. Distal convoluted tubule (DCT)
  20. Collecting duct
  21. Podocyte
  22. Glomerular basement membrane

Part 2 of 2

Physiology Lab

2A. Filtration rules: in or out of the filtrate?

For each substance below, decide whether it is FILTERED (passes into Bowman's space at the glomerulus) or NOT FILTERED. Justify in one phrase based on size or charge.

1. Water (H2O).
2. Sodium ions (Na+).
3. Glucose.
4. Urea.
5. Red blood cells.
6. Albumin (a small plasma protein, ~67 kDa, negatively charged).
7. Creatinine (a small molecule, freely filtered, used clinically to estimate GFR).

2B. Synthesis questions

Answer each in 2 to 4 sentences. Use the language from this week's lecture and your drawings as evidence.

1. Calculate cardiac output to kidney perfusion: at rest, the kidneys receive about 20 to 25 percent of cardiac output. If CO is 5 L/min, what is renal blood flow? Why is the kidney so heavily perfused?
2. Predict what happens to glomerular filtration rate (GFR) if (a) the afferent arteriole constricts, (b) the efferent arteriole constricts. Explain using the pressure-gradient concept.
3. A patient with severe hypertension develops kidney damage over years. Predict how chronic high pressure damages the delicate glomerular structures, and explain why proteinuria (protein in the urine) is a hallmark of this damage.

3. What to submit

Complete both the Anatomy Lab (your own drawings, hand-labeled, plus the structures list) and the Physiology Lab (activity and synthesis questions). Photograph or scan every page and upload to Canvas before the deadline listed on the schedule. Hand-drawn, hand-labeled work is the integrity mechanism for this course. Typed or AI-generated diagrams are not accepted.