Some Difficult Topics to Teach (and Not to Teach) in Renal Physiology

This paper deals with the teaching of various unrelated topics. Several I have found to be difficult to teach or likely not to be covered at all because of the way that our presentation of renal physiology is usually organized. Several have been chosen to raise questions about how (and what) to teach at this time of unprecedented explosion of knowledge. The general topics chosen for review are 1) interactions of systems controlling the excretion of specific substances; 2) how vasoactive substances lower or raise glomerular filtration rate (GFR); 3) urea and urine concentration; and 4) feedbacks and bottom lines: ‘‘So what really happens?’’