Life processes (Excretion)

Excretion in human beings:

• The metabolic activities in the body generates many kinds of wastes including nitrogenous
wastes which are harmful for the body and hence needed to be removed.
• Excretion is a process by which the nitrogenous wastes are removed from our body.
• Unicellular organisms remove these wastes by simple diffusion.

Human Excretory System:

Excretory system of human beings includes :

Excretory/urinary system consists of :

(1) Pair of kidneys : The excretory organ
(2) The ureters : The ducts which drain out
urine from the kidneys
(3) The urinary bladder : The urinary reservoir
(where urine is collected)
(4) The urethra : The channel to the exterior

Kidney:

• Kidney is a bean-shaped organ which lies

near the vertebral column in the
abdominal cavity.
• The kidney is composed of many filtering units, called nephrons.
• Nephron is called the functional unit of kidney.

Nephron

• It is composed of a tangled mess of

tubes and a filtering part, called
glomerulus.
• The glomerulus is a network of blood
capillaries to which renal artery is
attached.
• The artery which takes blood to the
glomerulus is called afferent arteriole
and the one receiving blood from the
glomerulus is called efferent arteriole.
• The glomerulus is enclosed in a
capsule like portion, called bowman’s
capsule. The bowman’s capsule
extends into a fine tube which is highly
coiled.
• Tubes from various nephrons
converge into collecting duct, which
finally goes to the ureter.
Urine formation in the kidney: The urine formation involves three steps:

• Glomerular filtration (ultra filtration) : It is carried by glomerulus present in Bowman’s

capsule, helps in filtering the blood from substances like urea, aminoacids, glucose, salts etc.
It is known as glomerular filtrate which is collected in Bowman’s capsule.

• Selective reabsorption of useful substances : As the glomerular filtrate moves down

through the descending tubular part of nephron, some substances like glucose, amino acids
and major part of water are selectively reabsorbed into the blood.

• Secretions of certain substances : As the filtrate moves down through the ascending part
of tubule, certain harmful substances are directly secreted from the blood in the filtrate. This
filtrate is now called urine which is collected in the collecting duct and then passed into the
ureter.

Functions of Nephron

→ Excretion of nitrogenous wastes.

→ To maintain the water and ionic balance (osmic regulation).

The amount of water reabsorbed depends upon :

(i) How much excess of water is there in the body and,
(ii) How much nitrogenous wastes need to be excreted out.

Urine produced in the kidneys passes through the ureters into the urinary bladder where it is
stored until it is released through the urethra.
The purpose of making urine is to filter out waste product from the blood i.e., urea which is
produced in the liver.

Haemodialysis: The process of purifying blood by an artificial kidney. It is meant for kidney failure
patient.

Excretion in Plants

• Plants use different strategies for excretion of different products :

→ Oxygen and carbon dioxide is diffused through stomata.

→ Excess water is removed by transpiration.

→ Plants can even loose some of their old parts like old leaves and bark of tree.

→ Other waste products like raisins and gums especially in old xylem cells which can also
be lost by plants.

→ Plants also secrete some waste substances into the soil around them.