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NCK Licensing Exam (Nursing) Kidney Anatomy — practice questions

Explore 14 free Kidney Anatomy questions in NCK Licensing Exam (Nursing) Anatomy & Physiology. Open each question or exercise to read its content, reference answers and available explanation.

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Kidney Anatomy questions and exercises with answers

Showing questions 1–14 of 14.

What are described as the functional units of the kidney?Read the answer and worked solution →Roughly how many nephrons do the afferent arterioles serve in each kidney?Read the answer and worked solution →The glomerulus together with Bowman's capsule forms which structure?Read the answer and worked solution →A frontal section of the kidney shows an outer and an inner region. What are they called?Read the answer and worked solution →Which structures carry urine made by nephrons to the calyces for excretion?Read the answer and worked solution →About how much filtrate do the glomeruli create every day, and how much leaves as urine?Read the answer and worked solution →Why are blood cells and albumin normally absent from the filtrate?Read the answer and worked solution →Finding excessive protein in the urine usually points to what?Read the answer and worked solution →After the renal corpuscle, the capillaries form which vessel next?Read the answer and worked solution →Why does the nephron's blood supply qualify as a portal system?Read the answer and worked solution →Cortex or medulla?Read the answer and worked solution →Match the kidney partsRead the answer and worked solution →Kidney filtration: true or false?Read the answer and worked solution →Key in the kidney numbersRead the answer and worked solution →

Worked practice questions

What are described as the functional units of the kidney?

  1. The kidney nephrons
  2. The renal pyramids
  3. The renal calyces
  4. The renal columns
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Correct answer: A. The kidney nephrons

1. The kidney's cleansing work happens in repeating microscopic units. 2. Nephrons are the functional units of the kidney; they cleanse the blood and balance the circulation. 3. Pyramids, columns, and calyces are gross anatomy landmarks, not the working units. _Source: OpenStax Anatomy and Physiology (CC BY 4.0), Ch 25 "The Urinary System", section Nephrons and Vessels_

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Roughly how many nephrons do the afferent arterioles serve in each kidney?

  1. About 13,000
  2. About 1.3 million
  3. About 130 million
  4. About 13 billion
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Correct answer: B. About 1.3 million

1. Each kidney holds a vast number of nephrons. 2. The afferent arterioles service about 1.3 million nephrons in each kidney. 3. The other figures are off by factors of a hundred or more. _Source: OpenStax Anatomy and Physiology (CC BY 4.0), Ch 25 "The Urinary System", section Nephrons and Vessels_

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The glomerulus together with Bowman's capsule forms which structure?

  1. The renal pyramid
  2. The collecting duct
  3. The renal corpuscle
  4. The renal pelvis
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Correct answer: C. The renal corpuscle

1. The nephron begins at a tuft of high-pressure capillaries, the glomerulus. 2. The proximal end of the tubule surrounds it as Bowman's capsule. 3. Together the glomerulus and Bowman's capsule form the renal corpuscle. _Source: OpenStax Anatomy and Physiology (CC BY 4.0), Ch 25 "The Urinary System", section Nephrons and Vessels_

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