 The removal of metabolic waste products and

excess substances from the body.

 CO2 is a waste product of Respiration
 CO2 is toxic in large amounts
 Excretion is NOT the same as Egestion
 The material in feces is not MWP’s; it was never
digested or absorbed.
 Do you remember them all?
 Carbon Dioxide
 MWP of cell Respiration
 Urea
 MWP of Liver, removed by kidneys
 Water
 In excess, removed by kidneys
• First, you eat proteins, which get digested into
amino acids and absorbed into your blood.
• The AA’s travel to the Liver (thru the hepatic
portal vein)
• Extra AA’s get broken down into urea.
– This involves deamination; removing the part of the
AA that contains Nitrogen.
• The part with N will be excreted as Urea.
• So Urea is a “nitrogenous excretory product.”
 The urea goes back into the blood and travels
to the kidneys.
 Kidneys take urea out of the blood and mix it
with water to make urine.
 The urine flows from the kidneys thru 2 ureters
to the bladder.
 Then it’s excreted thru the urethra.
 You eat a protein and break it down into amino
acids. Where do the amino acids go next?
 To the Liver (thru the Hepatic Portal Vein)
 What happens to extra amino acidsin the
Liver?
 They get deaminated and made into urea
 Where does the urea go next?
 To the kidneys, then out of the body thru the
ureters  bladder  urethra.
# Event
6 AA’s are deaminated in Liver
10 Kidneys remove urea from blood
4 AA’s travel through hepatic portal vein
8 Urea passes into blood
1 Proteins are eaten
14 Urine flows into urethra
2 Proteins are digested into AA’s
13 Urine is stored in the bladder
3 AA’s are absorbed into blood
5 AA’s enter liver cells
7 Urea is produced
9 Urea is carried to kidneys
11 Urine is produced
12 Urine flows through the ureter
• Kidneys consist of tiny units of tubules called
nephrons.
• The nephron is where urea is filtered out of the
blood.
• An intricate network of blood capillaries
around the nephron helps urea diffuse down
its concentration gradient into the urinary
tubules.
• Other substances also diffuse out of the blood
in the same way.
• When kidneys fail, people still need their blood
“cleaned” of urea and other harmful
substances.
• They have to undergo dialysis treatment
several times a week.
• Dialysis = a mechanical means of filtering
blood, using concentration gradients to remove
urea and other substances.
• Blood is filtered outside of the body and
pumped back in!
 What if you had too much water in your body?
 What if you didn’t have enough?
 Kidneys excrete lots of watery urine when you
have too much.
 Kidneys excrete only small amounts when
you’re short on water.
 So the urine is very concentrated.
 Hormones
 Broken down in liver, excreted by kidneys in urine
 Alcohol
 Also broken down in liver
 Toxic to cells; even liver cells!
 Liver damage or failure can result from drinking too
much alcohol.
 Why should a person with kidney failure avoid
eating salty foods?

 The kidneys will be unable to filter out the

extra salt.