concentrating

DEFINITION:

1. Bringing to a common center; gathering together at one point.

2. Increasing the strength by diminishing the bulk of, as of a liquid; condensing.

3. The strengthening of a drug or other preparation by the evaporation of its non-active parts.

urine

DEFINITION:

The fluid excreted by the kidneys, passed through the ureters, stored in the bladder, and discharged through the urethra. Urine, in health, has an amber color, a slight acid reaction, a peculiar odor, and a bitter, saline taste.

concentrated

DEFINITION:

1. Brought to a common center; gathered together at one point.

2. Having increased the strength by diminishing the bulk of, as of a liquid; condensed.

3. A drug or other preparation that has been strengthened by the evaporation of its non-active parts.

urine

DEFINITION:

The fluid excreted by the kidneys, passed through the ureters, stored in the bladder, and discharged through the urethra. Urine, in health, has an amber color, a slight acid reaction, a peculiar odor, and a bitter, saline taste.

vasopressin

DEFINITION:

1. One of two octapeptide hormones formed by the neuronal cells of the hypothalamic nuclei and stored in the posterior lobe of the pituitary gland (neurohypophysis), the other being oxytocin. It stimulates the contraction of the muscular tissue of the capillaries and arterioles, raising the blood pressure. It promotes contraction of the intestinal musculature and increases peristalsis, and also exerts some contractile influence on the uterus. It also has a specific effect on the epithelial cells of the distal portion of the uriniferous tubule, augmenting resorption of water independently of solutes, resulting in concentration of urine and dilution of blood serum. Its rate of secretion is regulated chiefly by the osmolarity of the plasma.

2. [USP], A pharmaceutical preparation of the same principle, prepared synthetically or obtained from the posterior pituitary of healthy domestic animals used for food by man; used mainly as an antidiuretic in the treatment of acute or chronic diabetes insipidus, administered intramuscularly as a test of hypothalamo-neurohypophysial-renal function in distinguishing central from nephrogenic diabetes insipidus; it may also be used to stimulate smooth muscle tissue, especially to induce vasoconstriction in the presence of hemorrhage. Called also antidiuretic hormone (ADH).

lumen

DEFINITION:

1. The cavity or channel within a tube or tubular organ.
2. The unit of luminous flux: it is the flux emitted in a solid angle of one steradian by a uniform point source with luminous intensity of one candela.

permeable

DEFINITION:

Pervious; permitting passage of a substance.

membranes

DEFINITION:

See definitions for "membrane."

nephron

DEFINITION:

The anatomical and functional unit of the kidney, consisting of the renal corpuscle, the proximal convoluted tubule, the descending and ascending limbs of Henle's loop, the distal convoluted tubule, and the collecting tubule.

vasopressin

DEFINITION:

1. One of two octapeptide hormones formed by the neuronal cells of the hypothalamic nuclei and stored in the posterior lobe of the pituitary gland (neurohypophysis), the other being oxytocin. It stimulates the contraction of the muscular tissue of the capillaries and arterioles, raising the blood pressure. It promotes contraction of the intestinal musculature and increases peristalsis, and also exerts some contractile influence on the uterus. It also has a specific effect on the epithelial cells of the distal portion of the uriniferous tubule, augmenting resorption of water independently of solutes, resulting in concentration of urine and dilution of blood serum. Its rate of secretion is regulated chiefly by the osmolarity of the plasma.

2. [USP], A pharmaceutical preparation of the same principle, prepared synthetically or obtained from the posterior pituitary of healthy domestic animals used for food by man; used mainly as an antidiuretic in the treatment of acute or chronic diabetes insipidus, administered intramuscularly as a test of hypothalamo-neurohypophysial-renal function in distinguishing central from nephrogenic diabetes insipidus; it may also be used to stimulate smooth muscle tissue, especially to induce vasoconstriction in the presence of hemorrhage. Called also antidiuretic hormone (ADH).

water permeability

DEFINITION:

The property or state of being permeable to water.

exocytosis

DEFINITION:

1. The discharge from a cell of particles that are too large to diffuse through the wall; the opposite of endocytosis.

2. The aggregation of migrating leukocytes in the epidermis as part of the inflammatory response.

water channels

DEFINITION:

Channels in a cell membrane that permit passage of water molecules; chemical substances such as vasopressin cause the opening of new channels and increase permeability.

apical membrane

DEFINITION:

See under membrane.

water channel

DEFINITION:

A channel in the plasma membrane of plant and animal cells that permits passage of water molecules; chemical substances such as vasopressin cause the opening of new channels and increase permeability.

red blood cells

DEFINITION:

Erythrocytes.

expressed

DEFINITION:

1. Showing a detectable effect of a gene.

2. Made known; shown.

3. Squeezed out; extracted by pressing.

collecting tubule

DEFINITION:

See under tubule.

cloning

DEFINITION:

The formation of a clone.

water channel

DEFINITION:

A channel in the plasma membrane of plant and animal cells that permits passage of water molecules; chemical substances such as vasopressin cause the opening of new channels and increase permeability.

apical membrane

DEFINITION:

See under membrane.

collecting tubule

DEFINITION:

See under tubule.

kidney

DEFINITION:

One of a pair of vertebrate organs situated in the body cavity near the spinal column that excrete waste products of metabolism, in man are bean-shaped organs about 4-1/2 inches long lying behind the peritoneum in a mass of fatty tissue, and consist chiefly of nephrons by which urine is secreted, collected, and discharged into a main cavity whence it is conveyed by the ureter to the bladder.

localized

DEFINITION:

Not general; restricted to a limited region or to one or more spots.

cells

DEFINITION:

See definitions for "cell."

expression

DEFINITION:

1. The aspect or appearance of the face (or surface of a cell) as determined by the physical or emotional state.

2. The act of squeezing or evacuating by pressure; a term used in pharmacy, surgery, and obstetrics.

3. The detectable effect of a gene.

4. A representation of value, relation, or the like (e.g., ratio).

oocytes

DEFINITION:

Developing egg cells; eggs before maturation.

osmotic water permeability

DEFINITION:

The ability to channel water across a membrane in response to a concentration gradient.

functional

DEFINITION:

1. Of or pertaining to a function.

2. Affecting the function but not the structure.

expression

DEFINITION:

1. The aspect or appearance of the face (or surface of a cell) as determined by the physical or emotional state.

2. The act of squeezing or evacuating by pressure; a term used in pharmacy, surgery, and obstetrics.

3. The detectable effect of a gene.

4. A representation of value, relation, or the like (e.g., ratio).

localization

DEFINITION:

1. The determination of the site or place of any process or lesion.
2. Restriction to a circumscribed or limited area.
3. Prelocalization.

vasopressin

DEFINITION:

1. One of two octapeptide hormones formed by the neuronal cells of the hypothalamic nuclei and stored in the posterior lobe of the pituitary gland (neurohypophysis), the other being oxytocin. It stimulates the contraction of the muscular tissue of the capillaries and arterioles, raising the blood pressure. It promotes contraction of the intestinal musculature and increases peristalsis, and also exerts some contractile influence on the uterus. It also has a specific effect on the epithelial cells of the distal portion of the uriniferous tubule, augmenting resorption of water independently of solutes, resulting in concentration of urine and dilution of blood serum. Its rate of secretion is regulated chiefly by the osmolarity of the plasma.

2. [USP], A pharmaceutical preparation of the same principle, prepared synthetically or obtained from the posterior pituitary of healthy domestic animals used for food by man; used mainly as an antidiuretic in the treatment of acute or chronic diabetes insipidus, administered intramuscularly as a test of hypothalamo-neurohypophysial-renal function in distinguishing central from nephrogenic diabetes insipidus; it may also be used to stimulate smooth muscle tissue, especially to induce vasoconstriction in the presence of hemorrhage. Called also antidiuretic hormone (ADH).

regulated

DEFINITION:

1. Having been adjusted to a certain standard.

2. In biology, describing the adaptation of form or behavior of an organism to changed conditions.

water channel

DEFINITION:

A channel in the plasma membrane of plant and animal cells that permits passage of water molecules; chemical substances such as vasopressin cause the opening of new channels and increase permeability.