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REVIEW

The Mammalian Urine Concentrating Mechanism: Hypotheses and Uncertainties

Anita T. Layton¹, Harold E. Layton¹, William H. Dantzler² and Thomas L. Pannabecker²

¹ Department of Mathematics, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina; and
² Department of Physiology, College of Medicine, University of Arizona, Tuscon, Arizona, alayton{at}math.duke.edu

The urine concentrating mechanism of the mammalian kidney, which can produce a urine that is substantially more concentrated than blood plasma during periods of water deprivation, is one of the enduring mysteries in traditional physiology. Owing to the complex lateral and axial relationships of tubules and vessels, in both the outer and inner medulla, the urine concentrating mechanism may only be fully understood in terms of the kidney’s three-dimensional functional architecture and its implications for preferential interactions among tubules and vessels.