Why Is Urine Yellow?

What true scientist has not asked, at some time or other, "Why is
pee yellow?"
Some European alchemists in the middle ages apparently thought one
possible reason was that there was gold in urine. This led to fruitless, and
possibly quite disgusting, efforts to extract that gold.
The yellow color in urine is due to chemicals called urobilins. These are the
breakdown products of the bile pigment bilirubin. Bilirubin is itself a
breakdown product of the heme part of hemoglobin from worn-out red blood
cells. Most bilirubin is partly broken down in the liver, stored in the gall
bladder, broken down some more in the intestines, and excreted in the feces
(its metabolites are what make feces brown), but some remains in the
bloodstream to be extracted by the kidneys where, converted to urobilins, it
gives urine that familiar yellow tint. (Here is a great diagram of some of
these reactions, from the Boehringer Mannheim Biochemical Pathways
at ExPASy.)
These same yellow chemicals also cause the yellow color ofjaundice and
of bruises, both of which result when more hemoglobin than usual is being
broken down and/or the processing of its breakdown products by the liver is
not able to keep up.
Why do we pee at all?
Urine is mostly water, which just has to be replaced. We excrete water not
just to get rid of it if we have drunk too much, but primarily to carry away
toxins that would otherwise build up in our systems. The important part of
urine is urea(also known as carbamide), (NH2)2CO. The real waste product
our bodies have to get rid of is ammonia (NH4+, when in solution), which is
formed by the breakdown of amino acids -- the building blocks of proteins.
But ammonia is so toxic that only tiny concentrations can be tolerated. So
any ammonia in the bloodstream is rapidly converted to urea in the liver.
That urea is then removed from the bloodstream in the kidneys, and left in
concentrated form in the urine (about 2% of urine is urea.) (More on the
"urea cycle")
Urea was "discovered" by Hilaire Rouelle in 1773 (that is, he was the first
chemist to isolate it in pure form and begin to understand its composition).
It was the first organic compound to be artificially synthesized from
inorganic starting materials when, in 1828, Friedrich Woehler prepared it by
the reaction of potassium cyanate with ammonium sulfate. Woehler was
really trying to make ammonium cyanate, but by synthesizing urea he
disproved the theory that the chemicals of living organisms are

fundamentally different from inanimate matter, thus inventing the field of

organic chemistry.
Fish and amphibians lack the urea cycle for removing ammonia from the
blood, since they can usually excrete ammonia directly via the gills or
through the skin. This is one reason that ammonia in the environment is so
highly toxic to aquatic animals. So do fish need to pee? Yes: not to excrete
nitrogenous compounds, but for osmoregulatory purposes. Freshwater fish
are always absorbing water from their environment by osmosis, and have to
pump it out. Saltwater fish don't absorb water from the sea (blood and
seawater have about the same saltiness and osmotic potential), but they do
have some wastes to get rid of. More here.
Where does the ammonia in our systems come from?
Ammonia is generated during the deamination (breakdown) of amino acids
in the liver. Other sources of ammonia include bacterial hydrolysis of urea
and other nitrogenous compounds in the intestine, the purine-nucleotide
cycle and amino acid transamination in skeletal muscle, and other metabolic
processes in the kidneys and liver. The normal physiological concentration in
blood is less than 35 micromol/l. A five- to ten-fold increase in this
concentration causes toxic effects, especially on the central nervous system.
Other urine facts

Unusual-colored urine (black, dark orange, or brown, for example) can

be a sign of serious medical problems.
Some other colors can result from pigments in the diet, such as
betacyanin found in red beets.
Urea is apparently used as an additive in cigarettes, to enhance flavor.

Urea is widely used as fertilizer, since plants can use it as a source of

nitrogen.

Although today urea is manufactured by the millions of tonnes through

industrial processes, the urea in urine can be economically valuable if other
sources of fixed nitrogen are scarce.
o
It can be used as plant fertilizer (when diluted). (It's organic,
you know.)
o
The urea in urine can be broken down into ammonia again
(generating the characteristic smell of stale urine) which be further oxidized
by bacteria to nitrate, so useful in the production of gunpowder.
HOW DOEs URINE FORM?

Blood from the heart comes into your kidneys from the renal arteries where it enters
about 2-3 million nephrons per kidney. Then, it goes through the glomerulus getting rid
of some of the unwanted substances in the blood and then continues through the renal
tubules and the loop of henle where it goes through renal secretion and renal excretion
to reabsorb certain substances such as water (actually if your body is dehydrated your
body will send anti-diuretic hormone (ADH) to your kidneys to prevent extra water from
going into your urine and thus saving water for your body) and get rid of anything else
that isn't wanted, then the urine goes through the renal pelvis and ureters to your
bladder and then to your urethra where it is excreted out of your body as urine.
So how does urine form?
1. Glomerular filtration of materials from blood plasma to glomerulus.
2. Reabsorption of substances (glucose, H20, creatine, AA, Na, K, Ca) from renal tubule
to capillary
3. Secretion of substances from capillary back to renal tubule
The color of urines depends on many factors. The more you take water the more whitish
the urine appears. If you are dehydrated the urine color changes to dark orange.
The color of urine also depends upon the food you eat or the medications you
take.Urine consists of excess water and waste products that have been filtered from the
blood by the kidneys. Its natural yellow color appears due to excretion of urochrome, a
pigment from blood.
Mostly if you are a healthy person the change in urine color is temporary. However if the
change in urine color is continuously seen, this may indicate a serious disease. In this
case a doctor must be consulted.
BLUE/GREEN URINE results due to blue dye such as methylene blue, a component
present in several medications.
BROWN/BLACK URINE may results due to L-dopa or melanin excretion as well as
copper or phenol poisoning. Medicine such as chloraquine and primaquine,
furazolidone, metronidazole, nitrofurantoin, cascara/senna laxatives, methocarbamol,
and sorbitol also produce the same results.
ORANGE PINK URINE can result from abundant uric acid crystals which can be seen in
acidic urine of patients who have undergone intestinal by-pass surgery or are receiving
chemotherapy for malignancy.
RED/PINK urine implies the presence of red cells, free hemoglobin etc. in this case
doctor must be consulted immediately.