You are a nurse practitioner who is working in a neighborhood health clinic. Your current patient is a 42 year old male landscaper named George Mendez who complains of not being able to get much work done. Mr. Mendez states that he is constantly thirsty. He stops working frequently for water breaks, consuming about a full glass of water every half hour, yet his mouth always feels dry. Then, he ends up having to urinate two to three times every hour. In addition, he states that he feels too weak to work in the brief time periods he has between all the drinking and the urinating
You collect urine and blood samples from Mr. Mendez and the lab results are as follows:
urine osmolality is 150 mOsm/kg (this means that the urine is very dilute)
blood osmolality is 300 mOsm/kg (this means that the blood is very concentrated)
QUESTION: What hormone is involved in triggering water retention in the kidneys?