In interstitial fluid of the kidney an increasing osmolarity from cortex to the inner medulla. This gradient is mainly caused by

The proximity between the Henle’s loop and vasa recta, as well as the counter current in them help in maintaining an increasing osmolarity towards the inner medullary interstitium, i.e., from 300 mOsmolL–1 in the cortex to about 1200 mOsmolL–1 in the inner medulla. This gradient is mainly caused by NaCl and urea.