Article
Article
Countercurrent exchange (biology)
Article By:
Bock, Walter J. Department of Biological Sciences, Columbia University, New York, New York.
Last reviewed:November 2019
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1036/1097-8542.165100
A biological mechanism in which there is an exchange of a substance between fluids flowing in opposite directions. Engineers have known that efficient and almost complete heat or other exchange could be achieved between two fluids flowing in opposite directions in separate tubes. Such countercurrent systems have been utilized numerous times by living organisms for all types of exchange function. They are most commonly found in the circulatory, respiratory, and excretory (kidney) systems, serving in heat, oxygen, and ion exchange. Biological countercurrent systems can be classified into two main types: downhill exchanges and hairpin multipliers. In both cases, the basic mechanism is the same—exchange of a substance between fluids flowing in opposite directions—but the consequences are very different.
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