Review of the Nephron and Glomerulus (Nursing)

00:00 Hi! Welcome to our video series on glomerulonephritis.

00:05 I'm going to introduce you to what it is and what the most common causes are that everyone needs to know.

00:11 Now first, let's start with the three main parts of the Nephron.

00:14 In order to understand what glomerulonephritis is, man that is a hard one to say, isn't it? Let's back up and look at what the three main parts of the Nephron are.

00:24 Well first we've got the glomerulus right there at the top.

00:28 Next, there's a proximal convoluted tubule, which is why we call it the PCT because that's really long and the distal convoluted tubule.

00:36 Remember what proximal means near and distal means far? So that will help you remember those pieces.

00:43 Now these three pieces together will government order there as blood is flowing through in the filtrate is flowing through goes into the glomerulus then through the PCT to the DCT.

00:55 So we wanted to give you a quick review of what the three main parts of the Nephron are But we're going to focus on the glomerulus.

01:04 So if you look at that picture, you'll see that we have this tangle of capillaries.

01:09 That's what a glomerulus is.

01:11 So capillaries are the tiniest of the arteries writes the endpoint have those super thin membranes and that's why things can be easily exchanged.

01:21 Now you have arteries in your lungs.

01:23 You got arteries all over your body, but we're talking about these tiny little vessels that are in your kidneys, the working units of your kidneys.

01:31 So that's what the glomerulus is.

01:34 Now why are we spending so much time talking about these little tiny blood vessels because that's the whole key to understanding glomerularnephritis, These vessels take a hit that's primarily where the inflammation happens is in those vessels.

01:49 So take a look at that picture again, when blood flows into the glomerulus, It's equal to the blood pressure.

01:56 So my blood pressure is the force that pushes blood through those tiny little capillaries in the glomerulus.

02:04 Because of that pressure, It also will push out into that Bowman's capsule, It will push out water and salts and amino acids and wastes that's called the filtrate.

02:15 So this is the process known as filtration that happens in your body.

02:19 Now stop for just a minute if this little guy isn't functioning very well because remember you have like a million nephrons per kidney.

02:28 If this little guy isn't functioning well, what's going to happen to your patient? Well, water, salts and all these wastes are going to be toxically building up in the patient's body instead of being excreted.

02:43 That's when they get really really sick.

02:47 So we needed a first go back and review what the glomerulus does and its job, remember it is one of three parts of the Nephron.

02:55 You've got a million nephrons per kidney.

02:59 So you're walking around with a easy two million nephrons in your body and here's the job these little capillaries.

03:05 That's where the filtration happens blood is pushed through there by my blood pressure and it forces the filtrate out into the Bowman's capsule so you can go through the rest of the Nephron.

03:17 So when we're talking about glomerulonephritis, this is where your medical terminology work pays off the term "itís", i-t-i-s means inflammation.

03:30 Now sometimes that's infection, but sometimes it's just inflammation.

03:33 They can be a little bit different.

03:35 So we've got inflammation.

03:37 Now look at those other two words, glomerular and Neph.

03:41 That means N-E-P-H let us know it's in the kidney and specifically the glomerulus.

03:48 So glomerularnephritis is inflammation of the Nephron of the kidneys, but specifically the glomerulus because that's the primary site where inflammation happens.

03:59 Now there can be change all throughout the kidney, but it primarily happens in the glomerulus.

04:05 All right, so pause and let's make sure that you're with me we know there's Nephron and there's three parts to it.

04:11 See if you can recall the names of the three parts of the Nephron.

04:16 How many nephron do you have in each, kidney? What is essentially the glomerulus made up of? Cool! I bet you got it, that tangle of capillaries.

04:28 Okay, now let's get rolling to glomerulonephritis.

04:30 Let's take a look at it.

04:32 So we know it's an inflammation of the glomeruli and it affects both kidneys, Now it can be acute because something happened right away or it can be chronic disease and we'll talk about examples of both.

04:44 Now, one of the major causes of end stage renal disease is glomerulonephritis.

04:50 Now this ongoing inflammation of the glomerulus that leads to really severe end-stage renal disease and kidney failure.

04:59 So see why it's so important that everyone understand how this is working down on the very tiniest level.