The Kidney regulates blood pressure, electrolytes and filtration. The glomerulus acts as a filter. Filtration is a nonselective, passive process. The filtrate that is formed is essentially blood plasma without blood proteins. Both proteins and blood cells are normally too large to pass through the filtration membrane, and when either of these appear in the urine, it is a pretty fair bet that there is some problem with the glomerular filters. As long as the systemic blood pressure is normal, filtrate will be formed. If arterial blood pressure drops too low, the Glomerular pressure becomes inadequate to force substance out of the blood into the tubules and filtrate formation stops. Water and solutes smaller than proteins are forced through the capillary walls and pores of the Glomerular capsule into the renal tubule.
Source:
Marieb, Elaine Nicpon. Essentials of Human Anatomy & Physiology. San Francisco: Pearson/Benjamin Cummings, 2006. Print. |
GENETIC ENGINEERING: 3-D PRINTED KIDNEYS
Kidneys are in highest demand with more than 120,000 U.S. patients waiting for an organ donation. For that reason, researchers began working with 3D Printers that would make this organ using living human cells to build replacement organs layer by layer. It was introduced at a TED conference in 2011, but it is still out of the reach of the common people. Problems with this theory is that: "even the finest next-generation 3D printers won't be able to print human tissue at small enough scales to match the real-life complexities of human organs" Williams explained. The kidney has proven to be hard to print because it has detailed, tiny structures that allow the organ to filter out waste chemicals from blood and turn the waste into urine. The Bioprinting researchers hope to take advantage of the self-organizing tendencies of stem cells extracted from patients to fill in the missing details and knit together full-size organs. Still, researchers are not giving up. A team from Eastern China printed a series of living kidneys, which was considered a huge success. The current batch of 3D printed kidneys only last for four months, so there is still a lot left to be done. On the plus side, 3D printed kidneys is something plausible, but not in the near future.
There are many controversies surrounding this, especially for the people that believe that science is over stepping its boundaries. First of all, would these organs help the human body and one day function properly? Religious affiliates say that God created the human body and creating these organs means tampering with it. Others say, "What's next? Are they going to print out a human?" Even with all of this surrounding speculation, printed kidneys is one step forward for human kind because it enforces survival of the fittest. If we have an instrument on our side that can save lives, why not use it?
Information: http://www.ted.com/talks/anthony_atala_printing_a_human_kidney http://www.dvice.com/2013-9-9/tiny-kidneys-are-worlds-first-3d-printed-living-organs
There are many controversies surrounding this, especially for the people that believe that science is over stepping its boundaries. First of all, would these organs help the human body and one day function properly? Religious affiliates say that God created the human body and creating these organs means tampering with it. Others say, "What's next? Are they going to print out a human?" Even with all of this surrounding speculation, printed kidneys is one step forward for human kind because it enforces survival of the fittest. If we have an instrument on our side that can save lives, why not use it?
Information: http://www.ted.com/talks/anthony_atala_printing_a_human_kidney http://www.dvice.com/2013-9-9/tiny-kidneys-are-worlds-first-3d-printed-living-organs