Final answer:
Renal blood flow in adults is about 1050 mL of blood per minute, which constitutes around 20 percent of the heart's output at rest. This flow results in approximately 578 mL of plasma flow per minute considering a hematocrit level of 45 percent.
Step-by-step explanation:
In adults, renal blood flow is the amount of blood that flows through both kidneys, which plays a pivotal role in the kidneys' function of filtering waste from the blood. The heart pumps about 5 liters of blood per minute under resting conditions, and approximately 20 percent of this, or about 1 liter, enters the kidneys to be filtered. Specifically, when considering the renal plasma flow, which equals the blood flow per minute times the hematocrit, an adult with a hematocrit of 45 would have a renal plasma flow of 55 percent. Considering that 5000 mL of blood per minute flows through the kidneys and 21 percent of this is renal blood flow, that equates to 1050 mL of blood per minute. After considering the hematocrit, renal plasma flow would be approximately 578 mL of plasma per minute.