THE NEPHRON’S LIKE A GRAPEVINE
by Arthur W. Siebens, Ph.D., Copyright 2001
to the tune of “I Heard It Through the Grapevine”
by Norman Whitefield and Barrett Strong

You've got two kidneys—look like kidney beans
Maintain the blood volume, keep blood clean
Eliminate the bad (e.g., urea) and keep the good
(e.g., glucose, amino acids)
They’re sort of like your body’s Robin Hood
In the cortex there’s glomeruli
Each with its own blood supply
(the afferent and efferent arterioles that become the vasa recta)
CHORUS
Don’t you know that the nephron’s like a grapevine
From cortex to medulla its almost serpentine
It may seem like a strange design
To understand it, got to use your mind, Honey, Honey, yeah.
It meanders like a grapevine, keeps your solutes in line, baby
Oh now, the glomerulus makes the filtrate
Bowman’s capsule’s where it accumulates
The cells and proteins stay behind
Small solutes move on down the line
(e.g., glucose, amino acids, salts, urea)
The proximal tubule takes back (reabsorbs)
nutrients (e.g., glucose, amino acids)
Through transporters sodium dependent
(e.g., Na/glucose, Na/amino acid cotransport)
CHORUS
Reabsorbing solutes takes most water out (about 2/3)
Osmosis is what we’re talkin’ ‘bout
Now the filtrate then descends
To the medulla, then takes a bend
The thick ascending limb of Henle’s loop
Concentrates the medulla, makes filtrate dilute
(it involves Na/K/Cl cotransport sensitive to diuretics like furosimide)
CHORUS