Alcohol’s Impact on Kidney Function

Cell s Function depends not only on receiving a continuous supply of nutrients and elimi-nating metabolic waste products butalso on the existence of stable physi-cal and chemical conditions in theextracellular fluid1bathing it. Amongthe most important substances con-tributing to these conditions are water,sodium, potassium, calcium, andphosphate. Loss or retention of anyone of these substances can influencethe body s handling of the others. Inaddition, hydrogen ion concentration( , acid-base balance) influencescell structure and permeability as wellas the rate of metabolic reactions. Theamounts of these substances must beheld within very narrow limits, re-gardless of the large variations possi-ble in their intake or loss. The kidneysare the organs primarily responsiblefor regulating the amounts and con-centrations of these substances in theextracellular addition to their role in regulat-ing the body s fluid composition, thekidneys produce hormones that influ-ence a host of physiological processes,including blood pressure regulation,red blood cell production, and calciummetabolism.

included enlarged and altered cells in the kidney tubules. In another study, Van Thiel and colleagues (1977) compared kidney structure and func-tion in alcohol-fed and control rats.

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