EXCRETION

• Excretory Products
• Unlike plants, humans have
organs which are
specialized for the removal
of certain excretory
products
• They include the lungs and
kidneys
• The liver also has a vital
role in excretion

Organs involved in excretion

 Excretory products
• Carbon dioxide
• Excess water and salts
• Urea
• Bile pigments
• Other toxic materials
• The removal of the excretory products is
called excretion.
 Egestion and excretion
• Some foods are not digestible in animals.
• For example; we cannot digest cellulose
• It goes straight through the alimentary canal
and out of the anus in the feaces.
• This cellulose is not an excretory product.
• So getting rid of undigested cellulose in faeces
is not excretion.
• It is called egestion.
Feaces vs urine
 Nitrogenous waste
• Animals produce nitrogenous waste.
• This is formed from excess protein and amino
acid.
• Mainly nitrogenous waste is urea in animals.
• Urea is toxic substance, we need to remove it
from the body.
• Urea is formed in liver
 The Need for Excretion
• Excretion is the removal of the waste substances of metabolic
reactions (the chemical reactions that take place inside cells),
toxic materials and substances in excess of requirements
• Carbon dioxide must be excreted as it dissolves in water easily
to form an acidic solution which can lower the pH of cells
• This can reduce the activity of enzymes in the body which are
essential for controlling the rate of metabolic reactions
• For this reason, too much carbon dioxide in the body is toxic
• Urea is also toxic to the body in higher concentrations and so
must be excreted
 How urea is made?
• When you eat proteins, protein molecules
are broken down to amino acids during
digestion.
• The amino acids are absorbed into the
blood and taken to the liver in the hepatic
portal vein.
• Amino acids that are needed are released
into circulation
• Amino acids that are needed are
deaminated into carbohydrates and
ammonia.
• The carbohydrates are used or stored in
the liver
• The ammonia is converted into urea.
• Then urea is excreted from the body by
the kidney
 The Role of the Liver
• Many digested food molecules absorbed into the blood in the small intestine are
carried to the liver for assimilation (when food molecules are converted to other
molecules that the body needs)
• These include amino acids, which are used to build proteins such as fibrinogen, a
protein found in blood plasma that is important in blood clotting
• Excess amino acids absorbed in the blood that are not needed to make
proteins cannot be stored, so they are broken down in a process
called deamination
• Enzymes in the liver split up the amino acid molecules
• The part of the molecule which contains carbon is turned into glycogen and stored
• The other part, which contains nitrogen, is turned into ammonia, which is highly
toxic, and so is immediately converted into urea, which is less toxic
• The urea dissolves in the blood and is taken to the kidney to be excreted
• A small amount is also excreted in sweat
Deamination
The human excretory system
The kidneys
 Kidney tubules
• Kidneys are made up of thousands of tiny
tubules or nephrons.
• Each nephron begins in cortex, downs into
medulla, then it goes to pelvis
• In the pelvis, the nephrons join up with ureter.
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tx9hYFeE
d1E
Nephron
 Filtration
• When blood comes into nephron, glomerulus
which has tangle of blood capillaries, filter the
blood.
• Blood vessels of Glomerulus have holes to make
any molecules go into
• Water, salt, glucose and urea are passed to renal
capsule(Bowman’s capsule).
• Blood cells and proteins are too big , so they stay
in the blood
 Reabsorption
• The fluid in the Bowman’s capsule is a solution of
glucose, salts and urea dissolved in water.
• Some of the substances in this fluid are needed by the
body.
• All of the glucose, some of water and some of the salts
are reabsorbed into blood capillaries around nephron.
• The remaining fluid form the urine
Over 99% of water is reabsorbed. Two kidneys filter
about 170 dm³ of water per day, yet only 1.5 dm³ of
urine are produced
 Selective Reabsorption
Reabsorption of Glucose
 Urine formation
• Kidneys filter blood and remove the urea, excess of
water and salts
• As the liquid moves through the kidneys any glucose in it
is reabsorbed back into the blood
• Most of the water is also reabsorbed.
• The final liquid produced by kidneys is a solution of urea
and salts in water.
• It is called urine.
• It flows the pelvis and goes the bladder by the ureter
• Then it is released from the body by urethra
 Changes in Urine
• The colour and quantity of urine produced in the body can change quickly
• Large quantities of urine are usually pale yellow in colour because it contains a
lot of water and so the urea is less concentrated
• Small quantities of urine are usually darker yellow / orange in colour because
it contains little water and so the urea is more concentrated
• There are various reasons why the concentration of urine will change,
including:
– Water intake – the more fluids drunk, the more water will be removed from the body
and so a large quantity of pale yellow, dilute urine will be produced
– Temperature – the higher the temperature the more water is lost in sweat and so less
will appear in urine, meaning a smaller quantity of dark yellow, concentrated urine will
be produced
– Exercise – the more exercise done, the more water is lost in sweat and so less will
appear in urine, meaning a smaller quantity of dark yellow, concentrated urine will be
produced
 The bladder
• The urine from all the tubules (in nephron) in
kidneys flows into the ureters.
• The ureter take it to the bladder.
• The bladder stores urine
• Leading out of the bladder is a tube called the
urethra.
• There is sphincter muscle at the top of the
urethra, which is usually tightly closed.
Causes, Consequences, Treatments of
Kidney
 Kidney dialysis
• Sometimes, a person’s kidneys stop working
properly. This might be because of infection
• Complete failure of the kidneys allows urea
and other waste products to stay in blood and
will cause death if not treated.
• The usual treatment for a person with kidney
failure is to have several sessions a week a
dialysis unit.
 Kidney machine or dialysis
• The person’s blood flows through the machine
and back into their body.
• Inside the machine blood is separated from a
special fluid. This fluid contains water, glucose,
salts and other substances
• There is no urea in the dialysis fluid, so urea
diffuses out of the patient’s blood and into the
fluid.
• See the figure 12.8 at page 158
Kidney transplants