So... currently studying for an anatomy quiz tomorrow. Urinary system... yummy.
But really! The urinary system is pretty fascinating! Our bodies are so much more amazing than we know! I've only had one lecture this semester on it so far and there's so much to learn! So much detail to how your body gets rid of waste! Through this, we, again, see God's creation... it's SO evident. This didn't come together by random chance. No. Stinking. Way. All God. All creation. All glory to Him.
So get this.
First of all, what's our main organ in the urinary system. Bladder? Wrong. It's the kidneys.
Anyway, in our kidneys, which are probably a little bigger than our fists (about 5 inches long, 3 wide), we have tiny things called nephrons. These are the functional unit of the kidneys. Without them... we wouldn't urinate... without urinating... we'd die. I'll explain later. But these nephrons... we have 1.2 MILLION in EACH kidney. 1.2 million little tiny things in an organ as big as our fist... crazy!!! It gets better.((Click the pic to make it bigger!!!)
So, inside this tiny nephron, there are even smaller structures called the renal corpuscle. Within this capsule (glomerular capsule), there is the glomerulus. This is where all the filtering takes place... inside these teeny tiny microscopic structures! The glomerulus has fenestrations, or pores/holes, in it. Because of the pressure exerted onto the walls of the fenestrated capillaries (tubes) all the toxins are pushed out. Note that protein is too large a molecule to go out and so, it stays in the blood where you need it. But the toxins are just the right size to be filtered out and put into the waste. Coincidence? I think not. Also, a fun fact, these fenestrations/pores/holes in the capillaries are 70-90 nanometers big! I mean small! That's SO incredibly tiny! Itty Bitty!!! A nanometer is one BILLIONTH of a meter. Can you even comprehend that? Well that was designed by our God, our LORD! Our
CREATOR.
Keep listening, I'm not done. :)
Wanna know what were to happen if we did not have these tiny fenestrations in our tiny capillaries in the microscopic nephrons, in which there are 1.2 million per kidney... which is 5 inches in size?
Metabolic wastes are wastes that are produced solely by the body, not by food or anything ingested. Urea makes up 50% of the wastes and is very toxic. So toxic that in the condition called Azotemia, a build up of urea in the bloodstream (because it was not filtered properly in the tiny glomerulus capsules), it can make one extremely ill. If it worsens, then becoming Uremia, which is severe azotemia symptoms can include diarrhea, vomiting, dyspnea (labored breathing), convulsions, coma, and then finally... death.
So, because of the microscopic fenestrations somewhere in our kidneys, our lives are saved every second because the urea is filtered out, and then moved to the waste where we get rid of it.
If that those tiny fenestrations did not exist... we would die. Just like that.
Crazy? Amazing?
It's crazy amazing that God designed us so intricately and detailed! Just that one little thing keeps us alive and clean!
Certainly, God receives all glory for his wonderful creation!
He loves us so much!
We really need to look around and just notice that every once in a while. His love and grace is everywhere.
"Cast all your anxieties on Him because he cares for you!"
1 Peter 5:7
