Excretory System

BIOL0012 Lecture 25 and 26 Excretory System

 Excretory system Outline
• The need to remove nitrogenous waste from the body

• The kidney: gross structure; function of the nephron

• Regulation of kidney function
• Osmoregulation: homeostatic control of water & minerals by the kidney

• Excretion in plants
 Assessable Objectives
• To explain the need to remove nitrogenous and other excretory
products from the body
• To outline the formation of urea
• To describe the gross structure of the kidney and the detailed structure
of the nephron and associated blood vessels
• explain the function of the kidney in terms of excretion and
osmoregulation
• To discuss the clinical significance of the presence of glucose and
protein in the urine.
 Function of Excretory System
•
 Function of Excretory System
•
 Excretion of Nitrogenous Waste
•
Deamination
 Site of excretion processes
• Preparation of nitrogenous excretory waste – LIVER

• Filtering of excretory waste from blood – KIDNEY

• Packaging of excretory waste – KIDNEY

• Transport of excretory waste to storage site – URETER

• Temporary storage of excretory waste – BLADDER

• Transport of excretory waste to outside body - URETHRA

 Excretion of Other Waste Products
•
•Bile pigments
• eliminated from the body by
digestive system.

•Excess water
• excreted in sweat and urine.
 Function of Excretory System
2. Osmoregulation
• Process by which the quantity of salt and water in blood is regulated
• plasma membranes of animal cells are permeable to water but have low
permeability to salts and ions.

• If the concentration of salts and ions in an animal’s body is equal to the

concentration of salts and ions in the surroundings (e.g. tissue fluids), there is
equal osmotic pressure.
• Body cell in isotonic tissue fluid therefore no net movement of salts and ions will occur
across the membrane
 Kidney functions
Two main homeostatic functions

1. Removes metabolic waste (especially nitrogenous wastes) from the

body (excretion)

2. Regulates the water and salt content in the blood (osmoregulation).

Homeostasis: maintenance of the internal environment within

tolerable limits
Structure of
Excretory
System
 Kidney
• receives blood from renal artery
• returns blood through renal vein.
• sends urine to bladder via ureter

Structure
• covered by a tough capsule
• has approximately 1 million nephrons
• 3 main areas: cortex, medulla, pelvis.
 Kidney
• Cortex
• Outer region containing glomeruli
• Function: filtration of blood.

• Medulla
• Central region containing loop of Henle
• Function: control of salt & water in urine

• Pelvis
• Inner region; expanded head of ureter inside kidney
• Function: collects urine
Functional unit is nephron
Nephron: Bowman’s Capsule/ Glomerulus

• At the top of each nephron in the cortex

is the Bowman’s capsule (cup-shaped
filtering device)

• Renal artery entering kidney splits into

interlobular arteries then to arterioles
which split into bundles of capillaries -
glomeruli (singular glomerulus) within
the Bowman’s capsule which connects
to proximal convoluted tubule.
 Renal tubule
• The efferent arteriole breaks up into capillaries surrounding the entire
tubule. Blood is drained from these capillaries into the renal vein.

• Loop of Henle

• The distal convoluted tubule is connected to a collecting duct.

• Collecting ducts converge and shed their contents into the ureter
 Nephron
The renal tubule

• runs from the Bowman’s

capsule

• consists of a proximal
convoluted tubule, the Loop
of Henle and a distal
convoluted tubule collecting
duct
Kidney - Nephron
 Formation of Urine
Kidney
• has an extensive blood supply
• main function is to ‘purify’ the blood as it flows through it.
• extracts useful substances
• eliminates harmful substances.

• Urine is produced as a result of

1. Ultrafiltration
2. selective reabsorption
3. secretion
 Formation of Urine
1. Glomerular ultrafiltration

• Blood in renal artery under pressure is forced into glomerular capillaries.

• Pressure of blood in glomerular capillaries forces fluid out of glomerulus

across the epithelial wall of Bowman’s capsule into lumen of renal tubule.

• Filtrate contains all the constituents of blood except plasma proteins

and blood cells (too large to pass through filter).
 Formation of Urine

2. Selective Reabsorption (into blood)

• Some essential substances are reabsorbed into

the blood as they pass along the nephron

Proximal convoluted tubule

• glucose, salts, amino acids, vitamins, ions and
water are reabsorbed.
• cells have microvilli to increase surface area.
 Formation of Urine
Loop of Henle- Selective Reabsorption

• Cells of the descending limb are permeable to

water but do not allow salt and urea to pass out.

• Water leaves the loop of Henle, by osmosis,

from descending limb into the surrounding
tissue fluid and then into blood in the capillaries.

• A concentrated filtrate is left behind in the loop

of Henle.
 Formation of Urine
Loop of Henle - selective reabsorption

• Cells of the ascending limb are permeable to salt but not to water.

Salt leaves ascending limb

• by diffusion into the medulla tissue fluid resulting in a high salt
concentration there.

• by active transport to the medulla so water moves out from the descending
limb in response to the high concentration of salts in the medulla.
Formation of Urine
 Formation of Urine

Distal convoluted tubule - selective reabsorption

• Influenced by hormones
• Filtrate entering the distal convoluted tubule
contains salts, some water and urea.
• remaining salt is reabsorbed
• water is reabsorbed.
 Formation of Urine
Collecting duct - selective
reabsorption

• influenced by hormones

• more water reabsorbed

from filtrate as it moves
down the collecting duct.
 Formation of Urine
3. Secretion (into tubule to form urine)

• Substances to be excreted are transported from blood & tissue fluid and
secreted into distal convoluted tubule
• eg. urea, ions (K+ , H+ ), urobilin, medications

• Secretion rids body of waste materials

• Secretion helps to control blood pH.

• If blood pH falls, more H+ is secreted; If it gets too alkaline, secretion of H+ is
reduced.
Formation of Urine
 Regulation of Kidney Function

• ADH: Antidiuretic hormone (posterior Pituitary)

• Aldosterone (Adrenals)
 Regulation of Kidney Function

• Low levels of Na+ in blood increases the release of aldosterone

which results in an increased reabsorption of Na+ by the distal
convoluted tubule.

• Water will also follow the ions into the blood.

 Regulation of Kidney Function

• An increase in the blood’s osmotic strength (small amount of water

in blood) causes an increased release of ADH

• which increases reabsorption of water from urine by the distal

convoluted tubule and collecting ducts.
 Urinary Analysis

• Kidneys prevent the excretion of blood cells and proteins (during

ultrafiltration), as well as glucose (selective reabsorption)

• Hence the presence of these materials in urine can be used as an

indicator of disease
 Urinary Analysis
• Glucose: The presence of glucose in urine is a common indicator of
diabetes (high blood glucose = incomplete reabsorption)

• Proteins: High quantities of protein in urine may indicate disease (e.g.

Phenylketonuria PKU) or hormonal conditions (e.g. Human chorionic
gonadotropin hCG = pregnancy)

• Blood cells: The presence of blood in urine can indicate a variety of

diseases, including certain infections and cancer

• Drugs / toxins: Many drugs pass through the body into urine and can be
detected (e.g. performance enhancing drugs)
 Hemodialysis
• Kidney dialysis involves the external filtering of blood in order to remove
metabolic wastes in patients with kidney failure

• Blood is removed and pumped through a dialyzer, which has two key
functions that are common to biological membranes:
• It contains a porous membrane that is semi-permeable (restricts passage of certain
materials)
• It introduces fresh dialysis fluid and removes wastes to maintain an appropriate
concentration gradient

• Kidney dialysis treatments typically last about 4 hours and occur 3 times a
week – these treatments can be effective for years
Overview of
Kidney
Dialysis
 Kidney Transplant
• Hemodialysis ensures continued blood filtering, but does not address
the underlying issue affecting kidney function

• The best long-term treatment for kidney failure is a kidney transplant:

• The transplanted kidney is grafted into the abdomen, with arteries, veins and
ureter connected to the recipient’s vessels
• Donors must typically be a close genetic match in order to minimise the
potential for graft rejection
• Donors can survive with one kidney and so may commonly donate the second
to relative suffering kidney failure
Histology Urinary System
 Excretion in plants
• Plant cell vacuoles store waste substances.
• Accumulated, concentrated waste form crystals.

• Plants can also store wastes in organs, like leaves, that will eventually fall
off or die off.

• O2 & CO2 : waste products of photosynthesis and respiration respectively

are lost through the stomata of the leaf.

• Water: waste product of photosynthesis and respiration is lost from leaf via
transpiration.