A patient with cranial diabetes insipidus is unable to produce sufficient anti-diuretic hormone (ADH) from their pituitary gland.
Describe the normal homeostatic mechanism by which the hypothalamus, pituitary gland, and nephron respond to a decrease in blood water potential in a healthy individual, and explain how a deficiency in ADH leads to the characteristic symptoms of diabetes insipidus (the excretion of large volumes of dilute urine).