1. Entry slip: What hormone is secreted by the
pituitary gland to control water output in urine?
Lesson 3.5- Investigate and describe issues related
to
kidney failure and treatment option available.
(pp379-381) of Biology-McGraw-Hill Ryerson)
I. Kidney Failure:
a.When a person’s kidneys no longer work
properly, they are said to be in renal
failure.
b.Renal failure is caused by uncontrolled
diabetes (you have too much glucose in
blood) and high blood pressure (often
from too much minerals in your blood due
to salty diet).
c. “Renal” comes from the Latin word renes,
meaning kidneys.

2. d.Uremia:
i. “Ure” = nitrogen-containing
compounds; emia = illness in the
blood
ii. a condition due to the slightly toxic
wastes urea, uric acid and creatinine
are not being filtered out and
accumulating in the blood. Untreated
uremia will eventually cause heart
failure and death.
II. Treated by:
a.Kidney transplants:
i. One or both of the kidneys are
replaced with donor kidneys
ii. Long waiting lists.
iii. Costs $20,000 for the operation and
$6000 per year in follow up costs for
the rest of the patient’s life.
b. “hemodialysis”

3. i. hemo = blood; dia = through; lysis =
loosen
ii. “Hemodialysis” means to filter the
blood.
iii. A Canadian scientist, Dr. Gordon
Murray was the first North American
to develop and use a machine to do
the filtering work of the kidneys.
iv. Blood is pumped from the patient
through dialysis tubing which is a
semi-permeable membrane: some
substances can cross through it while
others cannot. The wastes to be
removed pass through this
membrane.
v. Costs $50,000 per year.
III.Homework.
a.How much tax-payers’ money would have
been spent after 5 years for:
i. A kidney transplant for a patient.

4. ii. Hemodialysis started for another
patient.
b. Currently, the practice of selling an organ
for profit in Canada is illegal. Considering
the two numbers you calculated in
question a, should a very poor person be
allowed to sell a kidney for a transplant
that is needed? Why or why not?
Remember, a person can function on only
one of their two kidneys.