NCERT

Biology Grade 11 Chapter 19 Excretory products and their elimination

CBSE NCERT Solutions for Class 11 biology Chapter 19

Exercises

Q.1. Define Glomerular Filtration Rate (GFR)

Solution: The Glomerular Filtration Rate (GFR) is referred to as the amount of the filtrate produced by the kidneys per
unit of time. It is measured to identify the efficiency of kidneys. GFR in a healthy individual is 125 ml per min,
which is 180 liters per day.

Q.2. What is the significance of juxta glomerular apparatus (JGA) in kidney function?

Solution: Juxtaglomerular apparatus (JGA) is a specialized structure in nephron formed by the close association between
distal convoluted tubule (DCT) and afferent renal arteriole. These structures help in maintaining osmolarity in
the extracellular fluid of the body.

Whenever extracellular solute concentration (specifically sodium ion) becomes low in the body, this condition
is detected by the juxtaglomerular apparatus (JGA). After which juxtaglomerular cells present in afferent
arteriole secrete renin which leads to the activation of the renin-angiotensin pathway.

In this pathway inactive angiotensinogen is converted into angiotensin I and further into angiotensin II, which
has the following functions in our body-

Angiotensin II is a vasoconstrictor which increases the blood pressure in glomerulus by constricting the
blood vessels. This causes increases in Glomerular filtration rate.
It also increases the reabsorption of water and sodium ions from the glomerular filtrate into the blood to
increase blood volume and reduce blood pressure in the body.
Increases the synthesis of aldosterone which is a hormone secreted from the adrenal gland, that helps in
reabsorption of sodium ion from nephrons of kidneys. This also helps in regulating blood pressure and
maintaining the osmolarity of extracellular fluid.

Q.3. A chordate animal, whether Amphioxus or Petromyzon has flame cells as excretory structures.
Amphioxus

Solution: Flame cells are simple excretory organs that function like kidneys, removing waste materials from the body.
These cells have a nucleated cell body with cup-like projections bearing flagella. Amphioxus is a small lancet-
shaped burrowing marine animal that falls under phylum Chordata and subphylum Cephalochordata.

Q.4. Name the cortical portions projecting between the medullary pyramids in the human kidney, whether it is columns of
Bertini or calyces.
Columns of Bertini

Solution: These are cortical tissues present in between medullary pyramids. Each column consists of urinary tubules,
blood vessels and fibrous tissues. The main function of this renal column is the proper anchorage of renal
cortex. These regions are known as Columns of Bertini.

Q.5. Name the loop of capillaries running parallel to the Henle's loop.
Vasa recta

Solution: The efferent arteriole further branches out into blood capillaries that surrounds the loop of Henle in the renal
medulla. These are known as the vasa recta. These have a role in counter-current mechanism which maintains
osmolarity in medullary interstitium.

Q.6. Ascending limb of Henle's loop is _____(impermeable/permeable) to water whereas the descending limb is
_____ (impermeable/permeable) to it.
Impermeable

Solution: Ascending limb of Henle's loop is impermeable to water but permeable to solutes, hence, solutes can be
reabsorbed from this region to medullary interstitium to balance osmolarity.

Descending limb of Henle's loop is permeable to water but impermeable to solutes. From this region, water is
reabsorbed to the medullary interstitial tissues making the urine concentrated.

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Permeable

Solution: Ascending limb of Henle's loop is impermeable to water but permeable to solutes, hence, solutes can be reabsorbed from
this region to medullary interstitium to balance osmolarity.

Descending limb of Henle's loop is permeable to water but impermeable to solutes. From this region, water is reabsorbed to
the medullary interstitial tissues making the urine concentrated.

Q.7. Fill in the blank with the correct option provided in the bracket.

Reabsorption of water from distal parts of the tubules is facilitated by _____ (antidiuretic/oxytocin/prolactin) hormone.
antidiuretic

Solution: ADH(Antidiuretic hormone) is released from the posterior pituitary and has receptors on the distal part of the
renal tubule. When the osmolarity of blood increases(or blood volume decreases)due to dehydration, ADH is
released from the pituitary and gets attached to the receptors present in DCT(distal convoluted tubule).This
increases the absorption of water from DCT to blood restoring hydration of the body.

Q.8. Fill in the blank with the correct option provided in the bracket.

Dialysis fluid contains all the constituents as in plasma except _____ (sodium ion/glucose/nitrogenous wastes).
nitrogenous wastes

Solution: Dialysis is a medical procedure performed when dysfunction of kidneys is diagnosed in a patient. This
procedure does not entirely replace the function of kidneys but can eliminate waste materials accumulated in
the blood. A dialysis bag contains many electrolytes such as sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, and non-
electrolytes like glucose. It is devoid of nitrogenous wastes as this procedure helps in removing them from the
blood.

Q.9. Fill in the blank with the correct option provided in the bracket.

A healthy adult human excretes (on an average) _____ (2 to 5/10 to 15/25 to 30) gm of urea/day.
25 to 30

Solution: Urea is a nitrogenous waste produced by the liver which is eliminated out from the body by kidneys. Any
person who excretes less urea than the standard leads to the accumulation of urea in the blood which develops
a condition called uremia that is fatal to the human body. The average amount of urea that is excreted by a
healthy adult human per day is 25-30gm/day.

Q.10. Explain the autoregulatory mechanism of GFR.

Solution: The kidney autoregulates the glomerular filtration rate by the means of juxtaglomerular apparatus.
Juxtaglomerular apparatus is a specialized region in each nephron, formed by cellular modifications caused due
to the close association of distal convoluted tubule and the afferent arteriole.

When the GFR decreases, the cells of JGA releases renin which in turn activate angiotensinogen in the blood to
angiotensin I and angiotensin II. Angiotensin II causes vasoconstriction of blood vessels which increases the
blood pressure in the glomerulus. This results in an increase in the the glomerular filtration rate, and bringing it
back to normal.

Q.11. Micturition is carried out by a reflex.

True

Solution: After the urinary bladder is filled with urine, the muscle in its walls stretch. This is then detected by the
receptors of the bladder. The sensory signal from this receptor goes to the central nervous system which sends
back signals through the motor neurons, causing the bladder muscles to contract and the sphincter muscles to
relax. The internal sphincter muscle is involuntary and relaxes to allow urine to be passed from the bladder to
the urethral passage. The external sphincter muscles are voluntary and relax to pass the urine out of the body.

False

Q.12. ADH helps in water elimination making the urine hypotonic.

TrueFalse

Solution: ADH is a hormone secreted from the posterior pituitary whose site of action is in distal convoluted tubule
(DCT) and collecting tubule (CT). This hormone increases the reabsorption of water from the nephron of the
kidney making the urine concentrated or hypertonic.

Q.13. Protein-free fluid is filtered from blood plasma into the Bowman's capsule.
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True

Solution: Ultrafiltration occurs in the glomerulus due to high blood pressure generated as a result of the differences in the
diameter between the afferent and efferent arteriole. The high blood pressure cause the plasma and the smaller
molecules to pass through the pores in Bowman's capsule. Proteins being larger in comparison to glucose, urea,
amino acid and NaCl can not be filtered by the glomerulus and pass into the Bowman's capsule.

False

Q.14. Henle's loop plays an important role in concentrating the urine.

True

Solution: Henle's loop has two limbs. First is descending limb of the loop of Henle and second is the ascending limb of
loop of Henle. Descending limb of the loop of Henle is permeable to water but impermeable to solutes, hence a
large amount of water is reabsorbed from this region into blood vessels making the urine concentrated.

False

Q.15. Glucose is actively reabsorbed in the proximal convoluted tubule.

True

Solution: Glucose is a substance that is vital for our body as it provides energy. So, glucose should not appear in our
urine but it gets filtered out in the process of ultrafiltration. After ultrafiltration, glucose comes down to the
proximal convoluted tubule where all the glucose is fully reabsorbed into the blood vessels of vasa recta.

False

Q.16. Give a brief account of the counter current mechanism.

Solution: The mechanism by which the exchange of fluid takes place, when the fluid flows in two adjacent tubes, in the
opposite direction, is referred to as the countercurrent mechanism. It occurs in each and every nephrons of the
kidneys. The structures that participate in the countercurrent mechanism are loop of Henle (LOH) and vasa
recta (VR). These structures are in close association and the flow of liquid occurs in the opposite direction in
these tubes.

Steps involved in the countercurrent mechanism: There are 4 different steps involved in this mechanism-
1. Exchange of molecules(filtrate) between Descending limb(DL) of the loop of Henle (LOH) and ascending
limb (AL) of the loop of Henle (LOH): DL of LOH is permeable to water but impermeable to solute and AL of
LOH is permeable to solute but impermeable to water. Permeability of solute in AL of LOH develops a
gradient that allows water to move from DL of LOH.

2. Exchange of molecules between Ascending limb (AL) of the loop of Henle (LOH) and descending limb(DL)
of Vasa recta (VR): AL of LOH is permeable to solute only and DL of VR is permeable to both solute and
water. So solute moves out from the AL of LOH and water comes out from DL of VR.

3. Exchange of molecules between Descending limb (DL) of the loop of Henle (LOH) and Ascending limb
(AL) of Vasa recta (VR): As DL of LOH is permeable to water only, water comes out from it and to balance
the osmolarity, solutes come out from AL of VR.

4. Exchange of molecules between Descending limb (DL) of Vasa recta (VR) and Ascending limb (AL) of
Vasa recta (VR): As these are permeable to both solutes and water, a continuous exchange of solute and water
takes place to balance osmolarity of extracellular fluid of the kidney.

Importance of this mechanism:

1. It maintains osmolarity of the extracellular fluid of our body.
2. It makes the urine concentrated and helps in retention of water.

Q.17. Describe the role of liver, lungs, and skin in excretion.

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Solution: Excretion is a physiological process in which metabolic wastes are eliminated out of the body. Except
kidneys which are vital excretory organs, other organs in the body also carry out the process of excretion, these
are liver, lung, skin, etc.

Excretion by Lungs: Elimination of a large amount of carbon dioxide (200ml per minute) in the process of
exhalation takes place through the lungs everyday.

Excretion by the liver: Liver is the main organ for detoxification. Liver produces excretory wastes in the form
of bilirubin, biliverdin and these are excreted out from the body along with the fecal matter.

Excretion by the skin: Sweat and sebum are major excretory products eliminated through the skin.
Sweat is a watery fluid that contains water, salt, lactic acid and a small amount of urea. It is produced by sweat
glands and is eliminated through the skin.
Sebum contains substances such as sterols, hydrocarbons and waxes. It is produced by the sebaceous gland and
is eliminated through the skin.

Q.18. Explain micturition.

Solution: Micturition refers to the process of emptying the urine from the urinary bladder. A person can control the urge
to urinate by controlling the muscles of sphincter present around the opening of urethra.

When the urinary bladder gets completely filled, the stretch in the muscle is then detected by the receptors of
the bladder. The sensory signal from these receptors goes to Central nervous system (CNS) of the brain, after
which CNS sends back the signal through motor neurons to initiate the contraction of the smooth muscles of
the urinary bladder and the simultaneous relaxation of the sphincter muscles. This causes release of urine
through the urethra.

Q.19. Match the items of column I with those of column II:

Column I Column II
a) Ammonotelism (i) Birds
b) Bowman's capsule (ii) Water reabsorption
c) Micturition (iii) Bony fish
d) Uricotelism (iv) Urinary bladder
e) ADH (v) Renal tubule

Solution: (a)- (iii)

Ammonotelism is the process of excretion of ammonia as an excretory product. Ammonia is highly toxic, so
the organism needs plenty of water to make it less toxic. That is why aquatic organisms like bony fishes,
octopus excrete ammonia and are called as ammonotelic organism.

(b)- (v)
Bowman's capsule and renal tubule are the part of nephron of the kidney.

(c)- (iv)
Micturition is the action of urination where urine is released out from urinary bladder through the urethra.

(d)- (i)
Uricotelism is the process of excreting uric acid. It is a highly concentrated compound released by organisms
who live in water deficit region and the example of these type of organisms are birds.

(e)- (ii)
ADH is a hormone secreted from posterior pituitary. It helps in reabsorption of water from DCT and CT
(collecting tubule) of nephron.

Column I Column II
a) Ammonotelism (iii) Bony fish
b) Bowman's capsule (v) Renal tubule
c) Micturition iv) Urinary bladder
d) Uricotelism (i) Birds
e) ADH (ii) Water reabsorption

Q.20. What is meant by the term osmoregulation?

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Solution: Osmoregulation is the process of maintaining a fixed osmotic concentration inside the body fluids and cells by
controlling the amount of salts and water. Any irregularity in osmotic concentration of body is detected by
osmoreceptors, which is then fixed by osmoregulatory organs such as kidneys. It helps in maintaining
homeostasis of the body.

Q.21. Terrestrial animals are generally either ureotelic or uricotelic, not ammonotelic, why?

Solution: Ammonotelic organisms are those who excrete ammonia as an excretory product. Ammonia is a toxic
substance that requires plenty of water to flush out. Terrestrial animals such as humans are ureotelic who
excrete urea that is less toxic than ammonia and does not require plenty of water to flush it out. Uricotelic
organisms such as birds excrete uric acid. As these organisms live in water-deficit region, they convert
ammonia to uric acid which requires the least amount of water to be eliminated out from the body.

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