Artificial/ kidney transplant

• Dialysis


  The function of the kidney carried out by an artificial dialysis machine
• How dialysis works


  1. A person's blood leaves their body and flows between partially permeable membranes

  2. On the other side of these membranes is the dialysis fluid which contains the correct concentration of substances for the blood of a healthy person

  3. If the kidneys don't work, the concentration of waste/minerals builds up in the blood

  4. Dialysis restores the concentration so the person can carry on with a normal life

  5. Urea & waste builds up so dialysis has to be repeated regularly
• Dialysis


  • It's important that dialysis doesn't remove useful substances from the blood like glucose/mineral ions
  • The dialysis fluid contains the same concentration of glucose/mineral ions as healthy blood to prevent this
  • Any excess ions are removed by diffusion down the concentration gradient
• Kidney transplant


  • Diseased kidney can be replaced by a healthy kidney from a donor
  • The donor kidney is joined to the blood vessels in the groin
  • If successful, the new kidney will function properly to clean and balance the blood
• Kidney transplant


  • The antigens of the donor organ will be different to the recipient, so there is a risk of rejection by the immune system
  • To reduce the risk of rejection, the match between antigens of donor and recipient is made as close as possible
  • The recipient is given drugs to suppress the immune response (immunosuppressants) for life, but this prevents them dealing with infectious disease