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SAI International School
Std -X, Subject- BIOLOGY
Chapter- Life Processes
Sub Topic- Dialysis, Excretion in Plants
Module- 12
Lesson Notes

“Dialysis is an artificial way to eliminate nitrogenous waste and excess fluid
from the body with the help of an artificial kidney.”

Principle of Dialysis
 Dialysis functions on the ultrafiltration of fluid through a semipermeable membrane
and concept of the dissipation of solutes. Diffusion is a characteristic of materials in
water that has the tendency to flow against a concentration gradient.
 Blood runs on one flank of the semi-permeable film, and dialysate or distinct
dialysis fluids flow on the opposite flank.
 A selectively permeable layer is a skinny membrane of material that comprises
pores of different sizes or holes.
 Minor solutes and fluids flow through the layer, but the membrane stops the path of
bigger substances (for instance, large proteins, red blood cells).
 This imitates the filtering procedure that happens in the kidneys when the blood
moves into the kidneys and the bigger substances are divided from the minor ones
in the glomerulus.
 However, dialysis is not a permanent solution, instead, it should be seen as a
temporary alternative to substitute the kidney’s function until the kidney can repair
itself.
 But chronic kidney damage will rarely heal itself, the only solution being a kidney
transplant. Typically, patients have a longer life expectancy if they opt for a kidney
transplant than dialysis.