How Excess Salt Negatively Affects the Kidneys

Salt, scientifically called sodium chloride, lends taste to food, and helps in maintaining the water electrolyte balance in the body.

Taken in excess, however, salt has detrimental effects on the kidneys. The kidneys are the major excretory organs of the body, and are responsible in eliminating excess, unwanted substances.

Due to this function, it is the primary organ affected when these excess substances are not excreted. Excess salt exerts the same extra workload on the kidneys.

Because of homeostasis, the body could sense if there is too much salt or electrolytes in the body. When salt is in excess, the body responds by retaining water so that the excess salt would become diluted. The extra amount of water would also increase the volume of blood, which would add more workload on the heart and the kidneys.

Hypertension’s effect on kidneys

The excess salt could cause then hypertension, congestive heart failure and other unhealthy conditions.  Sodium may cause also the constriction of the blood vessels that could cause hypertension.

When a person has constant hypertension, vascular stress is exerted on the kidney cells, which would then be destroyed, and excretory function of the kidneys is compromised. If the kidneys are dysfunctional, they would not be able to discard toxic products of metabolism. These products of metabolism could amass in the body causing toxic poisoning. Formation of urine crystals in the kidneys

When the kidneys become dysfunctional because of excess salt, urinary sediments may be retained to form stones and calculi. These renal stones could amass in the kidneys and block urinary ducts or passages.

The most common causes of kidney stone formation are uric acid and calcium oxalate crystals. Inability of the kidneys to eliminate these stones could result to kidney stones, which may have to be surgically removed. The formation of stones in the kidneys is called nephrolithiasis.

Increased salt causes decreased blood supply to the kidneys

This effect results from the hormonal function of the kidneys, in which it would prompt the secretion of hormones to help regulate the electrolyte. This is stimulated by the hypothalamus in order to retain more water in an attempt to increase blood going to the kidneys.

This does not happen, though. Instead, water accumulates in the heart and other organs causing congestive heart failure.

Dysfunctional kidneys could affect the whole body’s ability to function well because of the accumulation of waste products, which the kidneys could not excrete. To ensure good health, people avoid taking in excess salt.

All about FPIA Fluorescence Polarization Immunoassay

• Fluorescein-labeled drug competes with unlabeled drug for antibody

•Sample excited with plane polarized light (490 nm)

•Fluorescein emits plane polarized light (520 nm)

•Small, free drug-fluorescein, rotates faster leading to less emission

•Larger, antibody-drug-fluorescein, rotates slower and emits plane polarized light (520 nm)

Principle: Drug in sample competes for antibody with fluorescein bound drug

•More drug in the sample; less fluorescein labeled drug bound to antibody; lower

emission of plane polarized light.

•Higher drug concentration results in lower light emission values.

FPIA

•Available for a variety of drugs

Advantages

Rapid turnaround times, sensitivity, ease of operation

Disadvantages

Background interference in serum sample (requires blank measurement).

LACTATE DEHYDROGENASE DETERMINATION QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

1.    Discuss the principle of the test.

LDH in the serum catalyzes the oxidation reduction of lactate to pyruvate, which  is measured spectrophotometrically.

2.    Give the reasons why serum for LD determination cannot be refrigerated.

Because LD isoenzymes are thermolabile and are unstable at refrigerated temperatures. They would not be able to react accurately.

3.    Why should there be timed intervals in the addition of 0.1N HCL?

So that the acid could react properly with the LDH in the sample.

4.    In the experiment, why should the incubation period be done exactly in 5 minutes?

Because incomplete reaction would occur if it is less than 5 minutes and more products would be formed when prolonged more than 5 minutes. This is at specified temperature and conditions.

5.    Name sources of errors in this determination.

Hemolyzed serum increases result 100-150 X
Turbid, lipemic and icteric serum needs serum blanking for accuracy
Refrigerated blood samples lowers values
Prolonged or shortened incubation time at specified conditions could increase or decrease values respectively
Altered temperatures could either increase nor decrease values

Alkaline Phospatase (ALP) Review Questions and Answers

1.    Discuss the principle of the test.

ALP catalyzes the hydrolysis of Paranitrophenylphosphate, which is colorless, to paranitrophenol, which is colored yellow, at 405 nanometers.

2.     Name differences between ALP and ACP

CATEGORY                  ALP                                                    ACP
pH                            Basic or alkaline                                      acidic
Best specimen     Heparinized plasma (Calbreath)                  Serum citrated plasma (Calbreath)
Tissue source    Same as ACP except for prostate,                  more on bone
Clin. significance    Prostate, platelets, bone, liver, spleen, kidneys, erythrocytes
Diagnostic significance    Hepatobiliary and bone disorders    Prostatic carcinoma

3.    What is the reason for diluting serum if the absorbance is higher than 0.25

For more precise and accurate measurement of the concentration of the unknown.

4.    Why do we have to adjust the spectrophotometer to zero when we read unknown solutions?

To read out errors caused by the spectrophotometer and the reagent.

5.    What is the best sample for this determination?

Unhemolyzed, clear, non-icteric, non-lipemic serum

Questions and Answers on Clinical Enzymology (ACP)

1. Discuss the principle of the most common principle of the ACP test.

ACP catalyzes the hydrolysis of Paranitrophenylphosphate, which is colorless, at an acidic pH, to paranitrophenol, which is colored yellow, at 450 to 470 nanometers.

2. Why do you have to utilize a specific wavelength in measuring ACP?

To be able to get the maximum reading of ACP in the sample.

3. What is the ideal specimen for the ACP determination?

Citrated blood is ideal, but for the determination performed in the lab, it is serum.

4. Name sources of errors for ACP test

Hemolyzed serum falsely increases values

Turbid and icteric serum need serum blanking for accuracy

Some reagents are photosensitive, exposure to light would decrease values

Prolonged or shortened incubation time would increase and decrease values respectively

Alkaline pH would decrease values

Altered temperatures could either increase or decrease values

Effects of Decreased Carbon Dioxide in Atmosphere

Carbon dioxide is one of the gases that could cause global warming. This is because it prevents the reflection of the sun’s heat back into space.

Normally, carbon dioxide exists ideally in the atmosphere at 0.03%. The percentage continues to increase because of combustion and emissions caused by man. Carbon dioxide is essential to plants because they need carbon dioxide to survive.

If carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere were reduced to half, these living things would be the first to be affected.

Effects of Decreased Carbon Dioxide

 

Environmental change

A drastic decrease of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere would cause environmental changes. Since carbon dioxide causes global warming, its reduction would cause changes in the temperature of the environment.

The climate would become colder because of the absence of the greenhouse effect, in which humidity or warmth stays in the earth’s environment. The atmosphere becomes more transparent, which would facilitate the escape of heat to space, leaving the atmosphere colder.

These environmental changes would affect every living thing existing in the ecosystem.

Plants would grow extinct

 

Plants undergo photosynthesis through sunlight and carbon dioxide, so without this important gas, plants would wither and grow extinct.

Even marine plants would be affected. Since plants are major sources of food, there would be scarcity of food for man and animals on land and at sea. The food chain would be disrupted; that could result to a complete reversal of the chain.

Man would then have only animals for food. This scenario would cause various problems to humans because of the major disadvantages of animal meat. Man needs a balanced diet to remain healthy and fit.

If plants grow extinct and animal meat is the only source of food for humans, it would shorten man’s life span.

Oceans would become more acidic

 

Decreased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere would make the ocean become more acidic. This is because bicarbonate, formed from the combination of carbon dioxide and water, is also decreased in concentrations.

Most carbon dioxide gases are dissolved in water to establish equilibrium with the atmosphere, through diffusion.

The ocean helps in eliminating the toxic carbon dioxide produced by combustion. Aside from the above-mentioned major effects caused by reduced carbon dioxide levels, there are minor effects resulting from the major occurrences.

These include: complete freezing of some continents because of cold temperatures, more glaciers formed from bodies of water, and other detrimental results caused by cold temperatures.

Any variation in the carbon dioxide that affects the ecosystem would have an effect on almost everything existing in that system.