Excretory

System

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 • The excretory system regulates the volume
and composition of body fluids by removing
wastes and recycling substances for the
body’s use.
Excretion: Secretion:
The process by which The process by which
organisms rid materials are actively
themselves of waste transferred into the
products. nephron for excretion.

Filtration:
Basic The process by which
Reabsorption:
The process by which
Function water and solutes are
filtered out of the blood
water and solutes are
retained by the body
by a semipermeable and pulled out of the
membrane. nephron. 2
What are we actually filtering out?

Waste = what the body will no

longer use
• Excess amino acids accumulate
• The liver DEAMINATES them creating AMMONIA
• Ammonia is converted into UREA and URIC ACID
• Deamination is the removal of an amine group in
an amino acid to create ammonia and reusable
compounds

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Excretory
System
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 • The urinary sphincter controls urine storage
• At 200ml the bladder stretches and signals are sent
The to the brain
At 400ml the receptors are activated and the
Bladder
•
message is more urgent
• At 600ml all voluntary control is lost
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 Nephrons

Kidney
Parts
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Calyces
Important Concepts

1. Kidneys process blood to form urine

2. Each kidney contains over 1 000 000
nephrons
3. The functional unit of the kidney is the
nephron
4. Excretion is NOT the same as defecation
5. May hold as much as 25% of your blood

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The
Nephron
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 Glomerulus and
Bowmans Capsule

• Filtration begins here

• Movement of water and solutes
from the blood into Bowman’s
capsule
• The glomerulus acts as a high-
pressure filter
• Once the fluid is inside the
nephron it is called FILTRATE
• Only small solutes will pass into
Bowman’s capsule
• Larger solutes (rbc, platelets, wbc,
large proteins) will stay in blood
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Comparing Solutes
Solute Glomerulus Bowman’s capsule

water yes yes

sodium chloride yes yes

glucose yes yes

amino acids yes yes

hydrogen ions yes yes

potassium ions yes yes

urea yes yes

vitamins and minerals yes yes

plasma proteins yes no

erythrocytes yes no

platelets yes no
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 Reabsorption begins:
• Moving solutes from the FILTRATE back into
Proximal the blood
• Salt (ions)
Tubule • Water
• Glucose
Proximal means closest • Bicarbonate ions (helps maintain pH) 11
 Loop of Henle

Reabsorption continues:
• Descending Loop of
Henle
• Only WATER moves
back into the blood
• Ascending Loop of Henle
• Only SALT moves back
into the blood

Passive transport – following

the concentration gradient
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 Reabsorption of
some salt,
bicarbonate, and
water is still
happening.

Secretion begins here

• Waste is transported from the blood to the nephron
Distal • Active transport out
Tubule • Medications
• K+ ions
• H+ ions (helps to maintain pH)
Distal means distant/farthest 13
 Collecting Duct

• Reabsorption of water occurs

when ADH is released
• Final balancing of the body’s fluids
and wastes
• ADH = antidiuretic hormone
• Finally forms URINE!

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 Urine contains
• Urea
• Uric Acid
• Water
• Urochrome (this is the pigment that makes urine
yellow – it comes from broken blood cells)

In a healthy individual there should be no:

• Protein
• Erythrocytes (RBC)
Urine • Platelets
• Glucose
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 Renal Insufficiency
• The kidneys cannot maintain homeostasis and perform their job
• Nephrons are damaged
• Infections
• High blood pressure
• Trauma
• Poisoning
• Atherosclerosis
• Tubule blockage
• It is possible to survive with 75% of nephrons damaged
• More than 75% and the body can no longer cleanse itself of waste or balance water
levels
• The options are kidney transplants… or DIALYSIS 16
 Dialysis

Hemodialysis: Peritoneal Dialysis:

• Artificial filter outside the body
• Connects to a vein
• Have to go to a dialysis centre
Presentation title
• Filters dialysate solution across the
peritoneal membrane in the abdomen
via a catheter
• Can be completed at home
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 • Very common disorder
• Bladder and Urethra = CYSTITIS
• Only urethra = URETHRITITUS
• More common in women

• Caused by bacteria… often from defecation

• Symptoms:
• Painful to pee

Urinary •
•
Pee often
Bloody urine

Tract •
•
Fever
Vomiting

Infections Can result in permanent damage to the kidney

Treatment is usually antibiotics
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Kidney Stones
• Crystallization of URIC ACID or
CALCIUM in the kidney
• becomes stuck in the ureter,
bladder, or renal pelvis
• Can also be caused by UTIs or
inactivity
• Some pass on their own
• Others need surgery, or
ultrasound shockwave therapy 19
Dehydration

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 • Found in people that have insufficient amounts of ADH
• The hormone that triggers the reabsorption of water in the
collecting duct

• Not enough ADH = peeing all the time

• Up to 8L a day

• Always thirsty and severely dehydrated

Diabetes
Insipidus
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 • Sugar is prevented from being used by
the body’s cells
• Insulin deficiency (marker on cells that
takes up Glucose)
• Sugar collects in the blood
• There is so much that the active
Diabetes transport of sugar out of the proximal

Mellitus tubule cannot keep up

• Sugar appears in the urine (smells
sweet) 22
 Diabetes Diabetes Urinary Tract
Dehydration
Mellitus Insipidus Infection

Protein None None None Present

Red Blood
None None None Present
Cells

Glucose High Amount None None None

Lower (under Lower (under

pH Normal (5-7) Normal (5-7)
5.5) 5.5)
Disorders Colour, Cloudy and
Sweet Smell Very Pale Very dark
Odour, Clarity odour
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Homeostasis

• Our bodies are constantly

maintaining an ideal internal
balance
• Ex. pH/temperature

• This is achieved through

NEGATIVE FEEDBACK LOOPS

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 • Osmosis = the movement of water from low to high concentration of
solute
• Where ever there is more dissolved solute it will flow there
• Osmotic pressure = a measure of a solution’s tendency to take in
water
• More solute = more osmotic pressure
• Dehydration = high osmotic pressure
• Osmolarity = moles of solute/L of solution

Osmolarity
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 • Osmoreceptors in the brain (hypothalamus) are sensitive to changes in
osmotic pressure
• The amount of water being pumped through our bodies in the plasma

• When we become dehydrated these receptors send a signal to the

PITUITARY GLAND to release ADH
• ADH travels to the kidneys
• Opens up channels in the collecting duct to increase the reabsorption of
water
• Results in more concentrated urine
• The osmotic pressure balances and ADH is no longer released

ADH
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Diuretic = anything
that promotes
increased urine
production

Alcohol is a diuretic
- It stops the
production of ADH
- Leads to you
having to pee all
the time
- This is why alcohol
dehydrates you

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 • Controls the Na+ ion concentration
• Released when Na+ concentration drops in blood
• ALDOSTERONE stimulates distal tubule and collecting
ducts to reabsorb Na+
• Water will always follow Na+ so more water will reabsorb
• Increase in blood volume, osmolarity, and blood pressure

Aldosterone
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Animals
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 Limits of Diffusion

• Diffusion between every cell

in a multicellular organism is
simply too slow
• Cells evolved exchange
systems
• Circulatory System
• Exchange of nutrients

• Excretory System
• Removal of waste

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Osmoconformers

• Conform to their environment

• Allow their internal osmotic pressure to match the
external
• Lots of invertebrates

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Osmoregulators

• Maintain an internal environment

• Relatively constant internal conditions
• Rely on homeostasis
• Most vertebrates

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 Adaptations to reduce Water Loss (Land)

• Desiccation (drying out) is a huge • Body Covering

problem!
• Humans die if they lose only 12%
of their body’s water
• Waxy layers on insects
• Shells
• Dead keratinized skin cells

• Land Mammals are in a very dry

environment
• Need to conserve water
• May need to conserve salt • Being Nocturnal
• Constantly losing water in
breathing and waste
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 Adaptations to reduce Water Loss (Land)

• Terrestrial Animals • Terrestrial Egg Layers

• Toxins will not diffuse out of a

• Need to conserve water
shell for baby birds/reptiles

• Convert ammonia to UREA • Need to conserve water

• Urea is less toxic
• Still takes energy to convert • Also need to protect embryo in
ammonia to Urea, but it is worth it egg

• Produce URIC ACID

• Least toxic and forms a thick paste
• More energetically expensive to
produce 36
Adaptations to Reduce Water Loss (Freshwater)

• Hypotonic solution
• Water wants to flow into the cells
• Salt wants to diffuse out

Can afford to lose water so will

excrete nitrogen in its most
toxic form: AMMONIA

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Adaptations to Reduce Water Loss (Saltwater)

• Hypertonic solution
• Water wants to flow out of cells
• Salt wants to diffuse in

Can afford to lose water so will

excrete nitrogen in its most
toxic form: AMMONIA

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Nitrogen
Waste

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