KIVO Med
Body fluid compartments and water balance
The volumes, composition, and exchanges that maintain the internal environment.
- 25 explained questions
- 24 flashcards
- 112 estimated course minutes
Updated
What you will learn
- Locate body-fluid compartments and relate their volumes to total body water.
- Calculate common concentrations and interpret the ionic composition of each compartment.
- Explain capillary exchange, water and sodium balance, and osmotic water shifts.
- Recognise major hydration disorders and methods used to measure compartment volumes.
Course outline
The internal environment that must be preserved
Water provides the physical and chemical setting in which cells can function under stable conditions.
8 min
Compartment volumes and boundaries
The distribution of body water varies with age, sex, adipose tissue, and muscle mass.
12 min
Solutes, concentrations, and ionic composition
Concentration units describe solutes whose unequal distribution determines compartment osmolarity.
18 min
Capillary and cellular exchange
Diffusion, Starling forces, and selective membranes continuously renew body-fluid compartments.
18 min
Water and sodium balances
A stable internal environment results from inputs and outputs that compensate for one another across the body.
14 min
Osmotic shifts between ECF and ICF
A change in water or sodium first affects ECF, then redistributes water until osmolality is equal again.
18 min
Fluid-volume disorders
Extracellular and intracellular terminology describes volume shifts according to sodium balance, water balance, and osmolality.
12 min
Measuring compartment volumes
Tracer dilution and bioimpedance estimate fluid volumes without directly isolating each compartment.
12 min
Study and practise with KIVO Med
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