INTRODUCTION
Kidney plays very important role in the excretion of metabolic waste products produced in the body and the maintenance of the body’s internal environment. Therefore, the composition of body fluids is determined by what the kidneys retain, not by what the mouth takes in.
The kidney has diverse roles in maintaining homeostasis. In mammals, the two kidneys normally receive approximately one-fourth of the cardiac output. The kidneys filter the blood and hence excrete metabolic waste, but they retrieve filtered substances that are needed by the body like water, glucose, electrolytes, and low-molecular-weight proteins. The kidneys alter the rate of reabsorption of water and electrolytes, and in this way, they help in maintaining acid-base balance. These multiple functions are accomplished by an extensive variety of cell types, each with specific responses to direct and indirect signals, arranged in a particular pattern to form the functional unit of the kidney, the nephron. The nephron consists of the glomerulus and its associated renal tubule segments. In the glomerulus, filtration of blood takes place, filtered substances are absorbed from tubular fluid to blood, and plasma components are secreted into the tubule fluid in the tubular segment of the renal tubule. Other than filtration, the kidney has essential functions like the secretion of important hormones and the hydrolysis of small peptides. The hormones participate in the regulation of systemic and renal dynamics, red blood cell production, calcium, phosphorus, and bone metabolism.18.2
Source:
Rana Tanmoy (ed.). Principles of Veterinary Animal Physiology. CRC Press,2026. — 290 p.. 2026
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