Water and Electrolyte Balance in Animals

These flashcards cover key concepts and definitions related to water and electrolyte balance in animals, focusing on osmosis, nephron structure, and nitrogenous waste management.

Water Balance

A matter of life and death for animals; involves gaining water through drinking, eating moist foods, osmosis, or cellular respiration, and losing water through urination, defecation, osmosis, and evaporation.

Electrolyte

A substance that conducts an electric current in solution, typically an ion or substance that dissociates into ions in water.

Osmotic Homeostasis

The maintenance of an internal balance of osmolarity and solute concentrations in organisms.

Osmolarity

The concentration of dissolved substances in a solution.

Symporter

A transport protein that moves two different molecules in the same direction across a membrane.

Antiporter

A transport protein that moves two different molecules in opposite directions across a membrane.

Osmoconformers

Organisms that have an internal osmolarity that matches their environment.

Osmoregulators

Organisms that actively regulate their internal osmolarity to achieve homeostasis.

Renal Corpuscle

The part of the nephron composed of the glomerulus and Bowman's capsule, where filtration occurs.

Nephron

The functional unit of the kidney responsible for filtration, reabsorption, secretion, and excretion.

Aquaporins

Water channel proteins inserted into membranes during dehydration, allowing water to flow out of collecting ducts.

Nitrogenous Wastes

Toxic byproducts of metabolism, such as ammonia, urea, or uric acid, that must be excreted.

Urodilatin

A hormone involved in regulating blood flow and glomerular filtration in the kidneys.

Filtrate

A fluid that has passed through the nephron, containing water, ions, nutrients, and wastes.

Homeostasis

The process by which an organism maintains a stable internal environment.

Hypertonic

A solution that has a higher concentration of solutes compared to another solution.

Hypotonic

A solution that has a lower concentration of solutes compared to another solution.

Isotonic

A solution that has the same concentration of solutes as another solution.