Palette Cleanser: 18 of the Most Interesting Kidney Facts I Could Find

In the midst of many blogposts regarding many of the more technical aspects of my project, I wanted to include at least one post showing some fun characteristics of the kidney. 

1. Each individual kidney consists of at least 1 million and up to 2 million nephrons.

Nephrons are nothing are the very tiny filters shown above which eliminate waste materials.

2. Within a single hour, kidneys receive around 120 pints of blood.

3. Despite accounting for only 0.5% of body weight almost 25% of the blood pumped by the heart goes to the kidneys.

4. Once a person reaches the age of 40, the number of functional nephrons present in each kidney start falling at a rate of 1% a year.

5. Despite the decline in the number of functional nephrons in kidneys after the age of 40, kidneys continue to function normally because the remaining nephrons enlarge to handle the increased flow (called hypertrophy).

6. If the nephrons in both kidneys are taken out and placed end to end horizontally, they will cover a distance of 16 kilometers.

7. If one kidney is taken away and the functional capacity of the other kidney is reduced to just 75%, it can still sustain life!

8. Another essential function kidneys perform is maintaining a constant amount of fluid in the body and so the entire blood supply in the body gets filtered around 400 times in a day through the kidneys.

9. If the blood pressure in kidneys fall, they start sending out signals to the rest of the body. As a result of these signals vasoconstriction occurs and pressure can return to normal.

10. Kidneys can also detect if the oxygen content of the blood falls. Once the kidneys sense a lack of oxygen, they secrete a hormone which triggers an increased production of red blood cells.

11. Some children are born with only one kidney. For them, the single kidney eventually grows to the extent where its weight is equal to the combined weight of two kidneys.

12. Excessive milk can cause kidney stones (my greatest fear).

13. Malfunctioning kidneys can lead to the development of anemia.

14. High blood pressure and diabetes can both lead to failure of kidneys (See my post about risk factors during transplant!)

15. The first ever kidney transplant was conducted by Yuri Voronoy, a Russian surgeon in 1933. The transplant failed.

16. The first ever successful kidney transplant was conducted by Dr. Joseph E. Murray in December 1954. The transplant was between two identical twins and took place in at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital, MA.

17. Nearly 700 million people globally (which nearly 10% of global adult population) suffer from some kind of kidney problem/damage. This leads or millions of premature deaths both from kidney disease as well as the related induced cardiovascular diseases.

18. Nearly 1.5 million globally go through kidney transplant or kidney dialysis (why dealing with BK Virus related issues is significant!)