A & P 2

Ketosis describes a condition, where levels of ketones or ketone bodies, in the blood, become elevated. Ketones become developed once glycogen stores in the liver run out. During this time, the body is usually in a state of starvation having used all its glucose stores; the result is breaking down fat. Ketones develop in the liver from the broken parts of the fat. Ketosis leads to metabolic acidosis. Ketone bodies are usually acidic, but the body can only function within a small range of PH (Tortora & Derrickson, 2009). When the buffering systems like kidney and lungs cannot get rid of excess acid swift enough, the blood PH falls below 7.35, which implies that the body is in metabolic acidosis. Besides, mild ketosis can offer therapeutic potential in different rare and common disease states.

In protein catabolism, proteins are broken down into amino acids by different proteases. Then, the amino acids become absorbed by the small intestine and sent to the liver through the hepatic portal vein (Tortora & Derrickson, 2009). When in the liver, the amino acids become deaminated, after which, the amino groups combine to form urea. Protein catabolism is related to nitrogen balance since high protein catabolic rates indicate a negative nitrogen balance.

The liver has the role of storage, releasing and producing glucose. When a person consumes food having glucose, it is absorbed into the bloodstream from the intestine. The liver plays a significant role in removing excess glucose from the bloodstream and stores it in the form of glycogen. When the blood sugar drops, the liver converts stored glycogen into glucose and release it into the bloodstream; this prevents blood sugar from dropping to abnormal levels (Tortora & Derrickson, 2009). In addition, when the body burns all its glycogen stores and it still requires energy, the liver produces glucose from fats and proteins to support body functioning.

The urinary system consists of the following organs: two kidney, the bladder, two ureters, and urethra. The kidneys play a role in removing liquid waste, in the form of urine, from the blood and keeping a balance of salts and other substances found in the blood. In addition, the kidneys produce erythropoietin, which helps in the formation of the red blood cells. The two ureters have the role of carrying urine to the bladder from the kidneys (Watson, 2004). The bladder stores urine and release it during urination. The urethra allows the passage of urine from the body.

Urine formation undergoes three basic processes; filtration, reabsorption and secretion (Watson, 2004). As blood flows through the glomeruli, most of its fluid soaks out of the blood through the glomerular capsular membrane, where it becomes filtered and flows into the Bowman’s capsule. During reabsorption, substances move out of the renal tubules into the blood capillaries, which are located around the tubules. Substances that are reabsorbed include glucose and other nutrients, water, sodium and other ions. The secretion process involves the movement of substances from the blood into the distal and collecting tubules. Here, the secretions mix with water and other wastes forming urine.

The creatinine clearance test describes a test, which is used to compare the creatinine level in the urine and the creatinine level in blood. The test can be used in estimating GFR. A GFR creatinine clearance can be determined from the measurement of creatinine in a urine specimen collected for 24 hours and from serum specimen obtained for the same collection period. Decreased creatinine clearance shows decreased GFR (Watson, 2004). The test is not very accurate due to erroneous results that emerge because of incomplete urine collections.

References

Tortora, G. J., & Derrickson, B. (2009). Principles of anatomy and physiology. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.

Watson, S. (2004). The urinary system. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.