Biology 20 - Kidney Simulation and Practice Questions KEY

Name: ___________________

Cleansing the blood of wastes, excess salts, and water can be compared to house cleaning.
Cleaning out a desk drawer involves separating useful items from garbage, then keeping the
useful items and discarding the garbage. You can choose one of two ways to do this. In one
method, you would dump everything out of the drawer and then reclaim the useful items, leaving
a pile of garbage. An alternative would be to sort through the materials in the drawer, removing
the garbage and leaving the useful items in place.

The cleansing of blood in nephrons (functional units of the kidney) involves mostly the first
method. Useful molecules as well as wastes and excess substances are filtered out of the
blood. Then, useful molecules are reclaimed back into the blood, leaving any wastes (urine) to
be excreted.

Task: Simulate the process of blood filtration that takes place in the nephron of the kidneys.
Create “blood” and demonstrate the steps of filtration, reabsorption, and secretion to make the
final product, “urine”.

Part 1) Components of Blood

With your table groups, use the following materials to create “blood”.

Procedure:

1. First, fill in Table 1 below to match blood components with each of the materials you will
use to make your blood, as well as whether those materials are found in the filtrate or
not.
● Recall: SMALL components should be able to fit through the glomerulus during
filtration. LARGE components of the blood should NOT fit through the
glomerulus.
2. Have the teacher check over your table BEFORE moving on to step 3 and 4.
3. Once you are given the go ahead, grab two beakers from the front table and tape.
Label the beakers accordingly (Beaker #1 = Afferent Arteriole, Beaker #2 = Nephron).
4. Grab the remaining materials listed in your table and make your “blood.”

Material Options for “Blood”:

❏ Large Beads (blue, green, orange, ❏ Salt

yellow, pink, white) ❏ Sugar
❏ Small Beads (white, yellow, red, ❏ Chicken Stock Powder
dark blue, light blue) ❏ Paper Clips
❏ Yellow Food Colouring
 Table 1) List of Blood Components

Blood Component Part of Filtrate? Yes or No Material

Water Y

Red Blood Cells N

Urea Y

Glucose Y

Proteins N

Amino Acids Y

Platelets N

White Blood Cells N

Salt: Na+ / Cl- Y

Dissolved Gasses Y

H+ Y

K+ Y

Drugs/ Wastes Y

Others?:_______________

Part 2) Filtration

You will be simulating the process of FILTRATION.

Procedure:
1. Select one of the following materials to be the glomerulus:
❏ Mesh Shelf-Liner
❏ Cheesecloth
❏ Coffee Filter
2. Place your “glomerulus” over the breaker labelled “nephron,” and secure it with an
elastic band/tape.
3. Pour the “blood” over the “glomerulus” slowly, leaving ~ a ¼ of the blood behind.
4. Observe the process of filtration and discuss/answer the following questions with your
group members:
 a. What materials did not fit through the glomerulus into the Bowman’s Capsule?
Why?

Red blood cells, white blood cells, platelets, proteins because they are too large
to fit through the semi-permeable membrane of the glomerulus.

b. Why are useful molecules like glucose and other nutrients found in the filtrate
along with urea and other wastes?

Because they are small, they do make it through the semi-permeable membrane
of the glomerulus and end up in the filtrate.

c. Sometimes bacterial infection causes nephritis—an inflammation of membranes

in the glomerulus and capsule. Large pores are created through which blood
cells enter the nephron. What symptom might indicate this problem?

Blood in the urine.

5. Whatever materials did not pass through the Glomerulus into the Nephron (Bowman’s
Capsule) beaker should be returned to the beaker labelled “afferent arteriole”. Take a
new piece of tape and re-name this beaker “efferent arteriole''. This is now the blood
which will pass through the capillary network.

Part 3) Reabsorption

You will be simulating the process of REABSORPTION.

Procedure:
1. The process of reabsorption relies on two types of transport; active and passive. Passive
transport includes both diffusion and osmosis. Determine which tool will be used for
each type of transport:
a. Spoon: ___________________
b. Tweezers:_________________
c. Pipette: ____________________
2. Grab the tools for reabsorption from the cart.
3. STOP: Consider the following questions about reabsorption in the proximal tubule:
a. Which components of the filtrate are completely reabsorbed (none remains in
the filtrate)? Is this done via active or passive transport?

Glucose and amino acids are reabsorbed completely via active transport.

b. Which components are incompletely reabsorbed (some remains in the filtrate)?

Which ones are actively transported? Which ones are passively transported?
 Positive ions such as sodium (active) and negative ions such as chloride
(passive) are incompletely reabsorbed. As well, water is incompletely reabsorbed
in the distal tubule, via osmosis.

4. STOP: Consider the following questions about reabsorption in the descending limb of
the Loop of Henle:
a. Which components of the filtrate are incompletely reabsorbed in the descending
limb? Is this done via active or passive transport?

Water is incompletely reabsorbed via osmosis (passive) across the membrane.

5. Using your tools for reabsorption, simulate the reabsorption of water from the
descending limb into the capillary network by removing specific materials from your
beaker labelled “nephron” into your beaker of “blood”.

6. STOP: Consider the following questions about reabsorption in the ascending limb of
the Loop of Henle:
a. Which components of the filtrate are incompletely reabsorbed in the ascending
limb? Which components are actively transported? Which components are
passively transported?

Na+ (active) and Cl- (passive) ions

b. If you are dehydrated, would you expect an increase in sodium reabsorption, or a

decrease? Why?

Increase, because water is reabsorbed via osmosis in response to the solute

concentration. If we reabsorb a greater amount of sodium the water will follow to
move to the region of higher solute concentration.

7. Using your tools for reabsorption, simulate the reabsorption of ions from the ascending
limb into the capillary network by removing specific materials from your beaker labelled
“nephron” into your beaker of “blood”.

8. STOP: Consider the following questions about reabsorption in the distal tubule.
a. Which components of the filtrate are incompletely reabsorbed in the distal
tubule? Which components are actively transported? Which components are
actively transported?

Sodium/Na+ Ions (Active), Negative Ions (Passive), Water (Passive  Osmosis

 b. How may an increase in the secretion of Antidiuretic Hormone (ADH) affect the
reabsorption of water in this structure? Will this result in the urine becoming more
or less concentrated?

ADH increases the permeability of the distal tubule and the collecting duct to
water, allowing for greater water reabsorption to occur in response to
dehydration. The urine will become more concentrated as more ADH is released.

9. Using your tools for reabsorption, simulate the reabsorption of ions/water from the distal
tubule into the capillary network by removing specific materials from your beaker labelled
“nephron” into your beaker of “blood”.

10. STOP: Consider the following questions about reabsorption in the collecting duct.
a. Which components of the filtrate are incompletely reabsorbed in the collecting
duct? Is this done via active or passive transport?

Water is reabsorbed via osmosis (passive) in the collecting duct.

11. Using your tools for reabsorption, simulate the reabsorption of water from the collecting
duct into the capillary network by removing specific materials from your beaker labelled
“nephron” into your beaker of “blood”

Thought Questions:

1. A common misconception is that “kidneys filter wastes out of the blood.” Use the words
“filtration” and “reabsorption” to explain why this statement is false.

While the kidneys do filter the wastes out of the blood, they also filter out essential
nutrients such as glucose and amino acids. The semi-permeable membrane of the
glomerulus is not very selective, and it allows all small molecules to pass through.
Therefore, the kidneys do just filter wastes out. Through the process of reabsorption, our
kidneys reabsorb all of the essential components that our bodies need, from the filtrate,
back into our blood. Leaving behind only the unwanted wastes.

2. Neither glucose nor proteins are present in urine, but for different reasons. Explain.

Glucose is completely reabsorbed from the filtrate into the blood because it is an essential
nutrient necessary for bodily functions (such as cellular respiration), and proteins never
even enter the nephron because they are too large. Both components are not found in the
urine.

Part 4) Secretion

You will be simulating the process of SECRETION.

Secretion is the movement of additional ions and wastes from the blood into the filtrate, as a
means to balance the body’s composition (pH, electrolytes) and remove harmful substances in
order to maintain homeostasis.

DISCLAIMER: This simulation is not perfect, so components that would normally be present in
the blood will not be in your “blood” beaker. Grab more resources from the stockpile on the cart
to simulate secretion where necessary.

Procedure:
1. List the components of blood that are secreted from the blood into the distal tubule.

H+ ions (pH balance), K+ ions (electrolyte balance), drugs/hormones, ammonia (toxic

substance).

2. Grab a small amount of each of these components from the cart. Check back to table 1
for the materials needed. Add these materials to the filtrate (Nephron beaker) to simulate
secretion.

Thought Questions:

Use this additional information to answer the next question

Excess ions and other substances are added to the filtrate from the surrounding capillaries in
a process called tubular secretion. This has been called “reabsorption in reverse.”

1. List three examples of substances that are actively secreted into the filtrate. How is
blood pH maintained by tubular secretion?

H+ maintains the pH, if the urine is too acidic then the blood will secrete more H+ ions.
Other secreted substances include drugs, hormones, ammonia, and K+ ions)

2. Give two reasons to explain why K+ is more concentrated in the urine than in the filtrate.

More is secreted to maintain the electrolyte balance of the body.

Water has mostly been reabsorbed so the concentration increases.

3. Which ion accounts for the low pH of the urine? How and where is this ion transported
into the urine? Why is the elimination of this ion important to survival?

H+ ion is secreted into the nephron, primarily in the distal tubule to maintain the pH of
the blood so that it does not become too acidic.
4. Although urea (a waste molecule) undergoes less reabsorption than glucose, its
concentration in the urine has increased about 60-fold. Account for the increase.

The relative concentration is much higher because a majority of the filtrate has been
reabsorbed (especially water) once it becomes urine, and so the concentration of the
urea in the solution increases.