Respiratory System
1. Excretory/Urinary Systems
The respiratory system (also called Respiratory Apparatus/Ventilatory
system) is a biological system consisting of specific organs and
structures used for gas exchange in animals and plants.
The anatomy and physiology that make this happen varies greatly.
Depending on the size of the organism, the environment is where it
lives and its evolutionary history. In land animals, the respiratory
surface is internalized as linings of the lungs. Gas exchange in the
lungs occurs in millions of small air sacs called alveoli in mammals
and reptiles. Other animals, such as insects, have respiratory
systems with very simple anatomical features, and in amphibians
even the skin play a vital role in gas exchange.
Parts and Functions of the Respiratory
System
Lungs
- Are a pair of walled, oval, hollow, soft, and spongy elastic sac
- Situated in the anterior part of the body cavity on each side of
the heart
- Pink in color, and are surrounded by a delicate membrane
called the pleural membrane/pleura
- Includes the following:
● External nostrils
● Nasal chambers
● Internal nostrils
● Bucco-pharyngeal cavity
● Glottis
● Laryngo-tracheal chamber
● Pair of bronchi
- The median slit-like glottis on the floor of the pharynx opens
into the larynx (laryngo-tracheal chamber)
Larynx is a small sac whose walls are surrounded by two arytenoid
and one cricoid cartilage.
Cricoid cartilage is a slender ring surrounding the larynx
Arytenoid cartilages are a pair of semilunar valves which rest
upon the cricoid cartilage. Their upper edges from the lateral margins
of the glottis. They afford attachment to muscles by which the glottis
may be opened or closed.
Vocal cords are a pair of elastic bands producing the true sound,
they extend longitudinally across the larynx. Their median edges are
thickened and lie near each other in the middle line.
Sound is produced by the expulsion of air from the lungs which set
the free edges of the vocal cords in vibration. Vibrations in the sound
are caused by altering the tension on the cords through the action of
laryngeal muscles.
The Vocal apparatus of the male frog is much larger than
that of the female. Vocal sacs are found only in male frogs and
serve as resonators to increase the croaking sound produced by the
vocal cords.
The Larynx opens behind into a pair of very small tubes, the
bronchi which lead to the corresponding lung. A series of
chambers found in the inner surface of the called Alveoli/Air
sacs are where gas exchange takes place.
Urogenital System
o Excretion is mainly carried out with the help of a pair
of kidneys, a pair of ureters, a urinary bladder and
cloaca
o The Bowman’s capsule encloses a bunch of
blood capillaries
o Glomerulus receives blood from an afferent
arteriole of the renal artery
o The Bowman’s capsule and Glomerulus
is called Malpighian body or Corpuscle
tubules
A. Kidney
- Are most of the red blood corpuscle
- Elongated, compact, flattened and dark red in color
- Found in the lymph spaces above the coelom attached on
either side of vertebral column
- The ventral surface of each kidney has a yellow-colored
adrenal or suprarenal gland of endocrine function
- To the anterior of each kidney are attached numerous
finger-like fat bodies, a testis in male and ovary in female
- Fat bodies are reserves for nourishment
- Each kidney is composed of a number of (about 2000) twisted
renal or uriniferous tubules held together by
connective tissue and richly supplied with blood vessels and
capillaries
- Each renal/uriniferous tubule starts as a thin,
double-walled ciliated cup
B. Ureters
- From the outer smooth convex posterior side of each kidney
arises a mesonephric or Wolffian duct or ureter
- It passes backwards to open into the dorsal side of the cloaca
- In male frogs, the ureter convey the sperms and urine, and
hence are called urinogenital ducts
C. Urinary Bladder
- Large, thin-walled bilobed distensible structure
- Opens into the ventral wall of cloaca by a sphinctered
aperture
D. Cloaca
- Small, medium sac receiving the anus, urinogenital apertures,
and the opening of the urinary bladder
- Open outside by a cloacal aperture placed at the posterior
end of the body between the two hindlimbs
2. Reproductive System
Amphibians reproduce via sexual reproduction involving the
fusion of eggs produced by ovaries within the female body and sperm
generated by testes in the males
Fertilization is most often external for frogs. Frog mating often
involves the male frog mounting the female frog so that sperm can be
deposited from the male cloaca directly onto the eggs as they exit the
female cloaca. This mating position is called amplexus
a. Female Reproductive System
A frog begins life as a fertilized egg. The female frog
usually lays the eggs in water in a string or mass that sticks to
vegetation. The male frog fertilizes the eggs as they are laid.
The outer layer of a fertilized egg is a jelly-like material that
swells in water, forming a protective coating.
 The fertilized egg is a single cell that rapidly divides
again and again, producing new cells that quickly differentiate Histology of the Ovary
into the organs of the frog embryo. Within 2 to 25 days, Amphibian eggs are usually covered in a jelly-like substance called
depending on water temperature, the egg hatches into a
the vitelline membrane that acts to protect the eggs and to
tadpole. The tadpole looks more like a fish at first than like a
keep them moist.
frog. As the tadpole develops, it forms gills that allow it to
breathe efficiently underwater. Its tail grows longer and a fin
They become mature after passing through the following stages:
forms, which allows the tadpole to swim efficiently.
1. Oogonia or Ovogonia (singular: Oogonium)
The ovaries in most frogs are conspicuous, o Genital epithelium divides into numerous cells by
occupying much of the body cavity. However, they vary mitotic division
greatly in size according to the season of the year. They are o These are small cells with large nuclei adhering to the
largest during the fall and winter, when they are filled with inner surface of the ovarian wall
thousands of ripe eggs, and smallest after ovulation in the
2. Young Oocytes
spring. Attached to the dorsal body wall by a double-layered o These are bigger and larger than the oogonia, nucleus
extension of the peritoneum known as the mesovarium. is seen in the middle part that is surrounded by
To identify the rest of the female reproductive system, protoplasm
remove one of the ovaries, locate the oviduct, a highly 3. Old Oocytes
coiled duct extending forward to the anterior end of the body o The nuclei are eccentric in these large cells, with yolk
cavity. At the end of the oviduct is a funnel-shaped ostium. spherules in the cytoplasm
o These cells are located at the center of the ovary
In the spring, eggs are released from the ovary into the body
cavity and are carried to the ostium by currents created by
movement of the cilia of the coelomic epithelium. The
posterior ends of the oviducts are enlarged to form the
ovisac, which enter the cloaca on its dorsal surface area
next to the ureters.

b. Male Reproductive System

In a male frog, locate the two oval, yellowish testes
each suspended from the dorsal abdominal wall by a
mesentery.
Lift one of the testes and locate the vasa
efferentia, the fine threadlike tubes that connect the testes
to the kidneys. Sperm produced by the testes are carried to
the kidneys via the vasa efferentia and from the kidneys to the
cloaca via the ureters/mesonephric duct which also serve as
the urinary ducts.

Histology of the Testes

Various stages of development of the reproductive cells:
1. Spermatogonia
o Large round cells that rest on the basement
membrane and contain round or oval nuclei
2. Spermatocytes
o Larger than spermatozoa and have round shape
o Have large round nuclei with a thin rim of cytoplasm
o Located toward the lumen of the seminiferous tubules
and seldom touch the basement membrane
3. Spermatids
o arise from spermatocytes
o have round nuclei which are reduced in size and
become eccentrically located within the cells
o usually lie close to the lumen of the seminiferous
tubules and are grouped in clusters
4. Spermatozoa
o mature spermatozoa possess a highly elongated head
and tail
o the head contains an ellipsoid nucleus with completely
condensed chromatin
o the heads of the spermatozoa in the apical cytoplasm,
while their tails point toward the seminiferous lumen