This simulator visualizes the loop of Henle and vasa recta side by side, showing tubular fluid osmolality changing as it descends and ascends while the surrounding interstitial gradient builds up level by level from cortex to papilla, letting you watch single effect multiplication and countercurrent exchange happen in real time.
Start the flow to watch fluid move down the water permeable descending limb, gaining concentration as it equilibrates with the interstitium, then up the salt pumping ascending limb, losing solutes but not water. Adjust the pump strength or loop length sliders to see how the single effect and its multiplication change the final corticomedullary gradient, and toggle the vasa recta layer on or off to compare how quickly the gradient washes out without countercurrent exchange.
Flow start and pause, pump strength slider controlling the single effect magnitude, loop length slider controlling multiplication steps, vasa recta on and off toggle, and a depth readout showing interstitial osmolality in mOsm per kilogram from cortex to papilla.
A healthy human kidney can concentrate urine roughly four times more concentrated than plasma, but some desert mammals with proportionally much longer loops of Henle can concentrate urine over ten times plasma osmolality, an adaptation that lets them survive on very little drinking water.
This simulator visualizes the loop of Henle and vasa recta side by side, showing tubular fluid osmolality changing as it descends and ascends while the surrounding interstitial gradient builds up level by level from cortex to papilla, letting you watch single effect multiplication and countercurrent exchange happen in real time.
This simulator visualizes the loop of Henle and vasa recta side by side, showing tubular fluid osmolality changing as it descends and ascends while the surrounding interstitial gradient builds up level by level from cortex to papilla, letting you watch single effect multiplication and countercurrent exchange happen in real time.
Start the flow to watch fluid move down the water permeable descending limb, gaining concentration as it equilibrates with the interstitium, then up the salt pumping ascending limb, losing solutes but not water. Adjust the pump strength or loop length sliders to see how the single effect and its multiplication change the final corticomedullary gradient, and toggle the vasa recta layer on or off to compare how quickly the gradient washes out without countercurrent exchange.
A healthy human kidney can concentrate urine roughly four times more concentrated than plasma, but some desert mammals with proportionally much longer loops of Henle can concentrate urine over ten times plasma osmolality, an adaptation that lets them survive on very little drinking water.