Regulating Blood Water Content
- The regulation of blood water content involves maintaining water and salt concentrations within the blood; this is an example of homeostasis
- This is vital to prevent harmful changes occurring to cells of the body as a result of osmosis
- The kidneys regulate the water content of the blood by removing water from the body in the urine
- The volume of urine varies depending on the blood water content
- When blood water content is high a large volume of dilute urine is produced
- When blood water content is low a small volume of concentrated urine is produced
- The colour of urine can be an indicator of concentration:
- Dilute urine is usually pale in colour because it contains a lot of water in relation to solutes
- Concentrated urine is darker in colour because it contains little water in relation to solutes