Your kidneys are two bean-shaped organs, each about the size of your fist. They are located in the middle of your back, just below your rib cage, on either side of your spine. Your kidney weigh about 0.5 percent of your total body weight. Although the kidneys are small organs by weight, they receive a huge amount -- 20 percent -- of the blood pumped by the heart. The large blood supply to your kidney enable them to do the following tasks :
Regulate the composition of your blood: Keep the concentrations of various ions and other important substances constant; keep the volume of water in your body constant; Remove wastes from your body (urea, ammonia, drugs, toxic substances); Keep the acid/base concentration of your blood constant
Help regulate your blood pressure
Stimulate the making of red blood cells
Maintain your body's calcium levels
Your kidney receive the blood from the renal artery, process it, return the processed blood to the body through the renal vein and remove the wastes and other unwanted substances in the urine. Urine flows from the kidneys through the ureters to the bladder. In the bladder, the urine is stored until it is excreted from the body through the urethra.
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