Chapter 13.

Excretory
System

Secondary 3
Think, Pair, Share

– What are the difference between egestion and

excretion?
– Is defecating a part of excretion?
 Excretion

– Removal of metabolic waste from a cell, an organ, an

organ system or body
– Organs involved:
– Liver
– Convert excess amino acid into urea
– Skin
– Sweat (water, minerals, metabolites)
– Lungs
– Exhaled air (carbon dioxide, water)
– Excretory system (kidneys)
– Urine (metabolites such as urea, water, minerals, etc)
Urinary System

– All reactions in the body require watery

surroundings in order to occur
– That fluid must be closely regulated to
ensure that the solution is not too salty
or not salty enough
– The urinary system helps to keep that
balance.
 Urinary System

– Kidneys are bean shaped

– Excretes waste and maintains homeostasis
– Kidney → ureter → bladder → urethra

– Kidneys - Process urine and regulate amount of water in the body

– Ureters - Transports processed urine to bladder, narrow muscular
tract
– Bladder - Storage, muscular sac which can expand and contract
– Uretha - Excreted out, narrow tube leading outside the body
 Kidney

– remove wastes from

the blood, form urine
– Parts:
– Cortex
– Medulla
– Renal vein
– Renal artery
Kidney structure
Kidney structure
– Nephrons
– - Microscopic filters
– - Millions present
– - Tissues (modifiable)
– - Filters waste and water from the blood

– Glomerulus
– - Clump of capillaries present at the end of each nephron
– - Network of coiled tubes
– - Blood re-absorbs water if needed after waste is filtered
(homeostasis & ADH hormone)
 Nephron

 The kidney is
made up of
repeating units
called nephrons

 These help
maintain fluid
balances
Nephron Structure
Urine Formation

–Occurs in nephron
–3 Steps
–Filtration
–Reabsorption
–Secretion
 Urine Formation: Filtration

–Movement of water and solutes from

the capillaries into the glomerular
capsule
Urine Formation: Filtration

–Glomerular filtration rate

(GFR): total amount of water
filtered per unit of time
Urine Formation:
Reabsorption

–Movement of useful
substances (water, salts,
glucose) back into the
capillaries.
Urine Formation:
Reabsorption

–Filtrate from glomerular capsule

flows into the renal tubule.
–Substances are reabsorbed into
the surrounding capillaries.
Urine Formation:
Reabsorption

–Sodium is actively pumped

out of the epithelial cells of
the renal tubule and diffuses
into capillaries.
Urine Formation:
Reabsorption

–The increased sodium in the

interstitial space creates high
osmotic pressure, which
draws water out of the tubule
by osmosis.
Urine Formation: Secretion

–At the same time that the

“good” substances are being
reabsorbed, wastes (urea)
still in the blood are actively
secreted from the capillaries.
Urine

– Of every litre of blood processed, the kidneys filter out about

one millilitre of waste liquid, or urine.
– Urine is produced at the rate of one drop per minute, or one
to two litres per day.
– Urine consists of approximately:
– 95 per cent water
– five per cent urea
– small amounts of salts and other substances
– a small amount of bile (which gives urine its yellow colour)
• a protein rich diet will
result in more urea being
present in the urine
(urea is formed when
excess amino acids are
deaminated in the liver)

• Taking in more liquids or

water rich food increases
water potential of the
urine

• A high intake of salty

foods will result in excess
salts being excreted in
urine

• A person with diabetes

excretes large amounts of
glucose in his/her urine.
Urine color
Ureters

–transfer urine
from the
kidneys to the
bladder
Bladder

– store urine until it is released by the body

Urethra

– carry urine from bladder to outside of the body

Kidney Failure

– Common causes of kidney failure:

– - High blood pressure
– - Diabetes
– - Alcohol abuse
– - Severe accidents that physically damage the kidney
– - Complications from undergoing major surgeries
Kidney Failure

– Patients with kidney failure may get a kidney

transplant, but if not available, will undergo
dialysis.
– A dialysis machine mimics the functions of a
kidney and helps to clean the patient's blood
from metabolic waste products and toxins.
– The patient needs to undergo dialysis 2-3 times a
week, with each sessions lasting 3-5 hours.
Urinary tract infection

– Common infections that happen when bacteria,

often from the skin or rectum, enter the urethra,
and infect the urinary tract.
– The infections can affect several parts of the urinary
tract, but the most common type is a bladder
infection (cystitis).
Lungs and skin

– Sweat glands in the skin serve as

excretory function
– urea and water released in perspiration
– Lungs release carbon dioxide
– High amount of carbon dioxide will
increase the pH of blood
 liver

– Converts amino acid

(protein compounds) into
urea → deamination
– Liver converts part of the
hemoglobin molecule
from old red blood cell to
bile.
– Abnormal liver causes
jaundice
 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
Deamination

• 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

•In deamination, the nitrogen-containing

amino group is removed and converted into
ammonia and then urea to be excreted