Possibly Dumb Question About Kidneys

[sp1814]

There's been a recent story about a hoax Dutch show where one of three patients who needed a kidney could be offered one in a game show.

My question is - how can someone do without a kidney? Why are we born with two if we can get away with one, and does the donor have a reduced quality of life with just one?

Bearing in mind, we only have one liver, heart etc...why have we got 'a spare' kidney?

(PS. I totally failed biology at school, which would explain my ignorance.

[unruliejulie]

The donor of this kidney was supposed to have a terminal illness whihch is why they were giving it away! .

All i know about kidneys is that they are self healing over a period of time, whether that is something to do with their abiltiy to work alone, i dont know! Good question sp1814. When you think about it though there are other things that we dont need to survive, such as the apendix and the spleen . Why have them if we can get by without them?

[annie0000]

I think that it is all about evolution - i.e. I think that the appendix is something that helps with the digestion if you have a diet of grass or something - I suppose that if the human race is still around in a million years or so, we will probably only have one kidney. We maybe needed 2 at some point in our evolution. Incidentally, it is now revealled that the supposed donor is in fact an actress and that the 3 contestants hoping to win do require a transplants but were aware of this. They were hoping to highlight the plight of people awaiting donors. I believe in Holland the law requires that donors have to be related to the recipients and that therefore this cuts down the availability of donor organs.

[sp1814]

unruliejulie

Ah - the appendix. I know about that one...apparently, we have an appendix because humans used to eat a lot more fibrous materials which the gut can't digest.

Evolution will probably see the appendix disappear completely - that's if we don't blow up the world with a nuclear bomb or run it into the ground via carbon emissions etc....

[cascarelli]

Kidneys don't need all the capacity that they have and can work at 30% or less capacity.

Liver can heal itself, I dont think kidneys do.

[sp1814]

unruliejulie

I believe the spleen only has one purpose, and that's to allow people to vent it.

[unruliejulie]

too true sp1814 and what better place to make use of that ability than here on answerbank!

cascarelli, i always thougt it was the kidneys but if im wrong , i stand corrected. Livers, kidneys, all the same to me, i dont much care for offal! :-)

[sp1814]

cascarelli

Thank you for that, but that goes back to my original question. The human body is pretty efficient...so it seems weird that we have 'more than we need' in terms of the kidney.

Also, does anyone know whether people who give up a kidney can lead the same life that they did before?

[RATTER15]

I don't think we have a spare kidney!!! its just that the body can cope very well on one kidney, it just works harder I suppose.

[unruliejulie]

this is an extract from wikipedia.:-


Generally, humans can live normally with just one kidney, as one has more functioning renal tissue than is needed to survive, possibly due to the nature of the prehistoric human diet. Only when the amount of functioning kidney tissue is greatly diminished will chronic renal failure develop. If the glomerular filtration rate (a measure of renal function) has fallen very low (end-stage renal failure), or if the renal dysfunction leads to severe symptoms, then renal replacement therapy is indicated, either dialysis or renal transplantation

[unruliejulie]

Cascarelli, you were right and i was wrong ! lol

Regeneration
The liver is among the few internal human organs capable of natural regeneration of lost tissue; as little as 25% of remaining liver can regenerate into a whole liver again. App. 67% of a liver can grow back in one week.

This is predominantly due to the hepatocytes acting as unipotential stem cells (i.e. a single hepatocyte can divide into two hepatocyte daughter cells). There is also some evidence of bipotential stem cells, called oval cells, which can differentiate into either hepatocytes or cholangiocytes (cells that line the bile ducts).

[sp1814]

Thank you all (esp unruliejulie and cascarelli) for your answers.

My mind is at rest now - and I've also found out that my liver regenerates itself, which is fantastic news.

[unruliejulie]

you're welcome sp1814, i found it interesting and i for one am happy about the liver thing! haha, fetch me another drink!

[helliebobs]

My dad only has one kidney - he had to have one removed in his 20s as it was rotten and useless. He's perfectly healthy and apart from making sure he drinks plenty and has a reasonably good diet so that the remaining kidney functions properly, he has no problems at all.

[silver_fox]

Hey,

my sister was born with only one kidney, but didn't find this out til she was 23yrs old after an operation to remove an ovarian cyst!!

She has had absolutely no ill effects from this and was never a 'sickly child' or anything like that!

My mum, dad & I have all been checked out and we all have 2 fully functioning kidneys!

A xXx