The urinary system filters the blood, regulates fluid and electrolyte balance, and clears metabolic waste, and this course explains how it does so at both the structural and functional level.

The course opens with the gross anatomy of the kidneys, ureters, bladder, and urethra, alongside the suprarenal glands that sit atop the kidneys, covering surface anatomy, the renal capsule, and blood supply. From there, the course turns to urinary tract physiology: glomerular filtration rate, tubular reabsorption and secretion along the nephron, and the countercurrent multiplier system that concentrates urine. The course closes with the integrated hormonal control of blood volume and osmolality, including antidiuretic hormone and the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system, and how body fluid compartments shift in response. As in the rest of this program, the goal is mechanism: not just naming a structure, but explaining how it produces the physiological effect it is known for. The fluid and electrolyte regulation covered here recurs when this certificate turns to the hormonal regulation of the reproductive system.