Excretion in humans

BY : ALANOUD OBEIDAT
What is excretion?

 it is the process of removing wastes and excess water from the body.
 It is one of the major ways the body maintains homeostasis.
  The large intestine, liver, skin, and lungs. All of these organs of excretion, along
with the kidneys, make up the excretory system. 
 Excretion in kidneys
 The kidneys are excretory organs that perform three main functions to
produce urine, filtration, reabsorption and secretion
 Within each kidney there are approximately one million structures called
nephrons, each of which acts as an independent filter and urine-processing
unit. A nephron consists of a renal corpuscle, which lies in the cortex, and
a long tube which collects and processes the filtered fluid, called a renal
tubule.
 At the renal corpuscle, a network of very small-diameter blood capillaries,
known as the glomerulus, comes into close contact with the closed end of
the tubule, which is composed of a single layer of epithelial cells – the
Bowman’s capsule.
Excretion in kidneys

 In this specialised region, fluid is filtered out of the blood capillaries, across the
epithelial cells and into the lumen of the tubule. The filtrate then passes along the
tubule, which is convoluted (in some cases looping down into the medulla),
before finally joining with the renal pelvis, where the urine is emptied into the
ureters.
 it is during its passage along the tubule that the contents of the filtrate are
processed, and urine is formed. Most of the filtered water, glucose, amino acids,
sodium and other ions are reabsorbed by the epithelial cells of the tubules. Waste
substances are either not reabsorbed at all, or only partially reabsorbed.
 Some molecules and ions are also secreted into the tubule by the epithelial cells
and, together with waste products which remain in the filtrate, are excreted in the
urine.