EXCRETION

Excretion is the removal of metabolic waste product from the body of an organism.
It is a major way of maintaining homeostasis.
Homeostasis is the regulation and maintenance of a constant internal
environment.
Why is Excretion Important?
 To remove toxic or poisonous substances
 To maintain steady internal environment(homeostasis)
 To remove excess substances from the body
 To avoid interference of waste with normal metabolic processes
 For osmoregulation; maintaining water and salt concentration in the body

Organs of Excretion
The kidney is the major organ of excretion. Others include- liver (removes excess
amino acid as urea, bile-bilirubin, cholesterol, spent hormones, drugs etc ) skin
(removes small quantity of urea, salt, lactic acid and water as sweat) and lungs
(removes CO2 and water vapour).
The Mammalian Kidney
Humans have a pair of kidney located in the dorsal inner wall of the abdominal
region. They are bean shaped and have a reddish brown color. Each kidney has
blood vessels supplied to it, the renal artery (bring blood to the kidney) that
branches from the main aorta and renal vein (takes blood away). A ureter tube
connects the kidney to the urinary bladder where urine is temporarily stored
before removal. Hilum, a structure at the concave surface provides point of
entrance for the blood vessels and nerves. In the inner region of the hilum is a
funnel shaped space known as the renal pelvis.
The kidney has two regions; the outer surface known as the cortex, and an inner
region called medulla. The medulla is divided into few conical masses (medullary
pyramids).
Each kidney has about a million complex tubular system known as the nephron. It
is the functional unit of the kidney.
The Nephron
Structure of The Nephron/Urinary Tubule
The nephron is the functional unit of the kidney. It is made up of two major parts;
the glomerulus and renal tubule.
• A cup-like shaped structure known as the BOWMAN’S CAPSULE
• Network of blood capillaries known as the GLOMERULUS enclosed inside the
Bowman’s capsule.
• The glomerulus and Bowman’s capsule are collectively called the
malpighian corpuscle or renal corpuscle
• The Bowman’s capsule opens into the PROXIMAL CONVULATED TUBULE
which descends into the medulla forming the hairpin/U-Shaped LOOP OF
HENLE before returning to the cortex
• The tubule is coiled again at the cortex to form the DISTAL CONVULATED
TUBULE
• The tubule descends again into the medulla and empties its content into the
COLLECTING DUCT which opens into the renal pelvis leading to the ureter.
• Note that the malpighain corpuscle, the proximal and distal tubule are
located in the cortex while the loop of Henle is located in the medulla.
• In some kidney the loop of Henle dips only a little into the medulla because
the loop is too short, this type of nephron is called cortical nephron while
those that descends deeply into the medulla are known as juxta medullary
nephron.

BLOOD VESSELS IN THE NEPHRON

 • The urinary tubule is associated with different blood vessels
• Blood is supplied to the kidney via the RENAL ARTERY (carries water, salt,
sugars, amino acids, urea, hormones, oxygen etc)
• Renal artery branches into the Bowmans capsule as afferent arteriole which
forms a network of blood capillaries inside the Bowman’s capsule known as
the GLOMERULUS.
• The capillaries rejoin and leave the bowman’s capsule as EFFERENT
ARTERIOLE which forms network of blood capillaries (peritubular capillaries)
over the renal tubules before joining the RENAL VEIN. The peritubular
capillaries run parallel to the Henle’s loop forming a U-shaped vasa recta

Urine Formation
Processes of urine formation
They include
 • Ultrafiltration/glomerular filtration
• Selective reabsorption
• Tubular secretion
ULTRAFILTRATION
 An average of 1100-1200 mL of blood is filtered by the kidney per minute.
• Blood flow at high pressure from the renal artery into the glomerulus via the
afferent arteriole
• The glomerular capillary blood pressure cause blood to filter through three
layers i.e, the endothelium of the glomerular blood vessels, the epithelium of
the Bowman’s capsule and a basement membrane between the two layers.
• The epithelial cells (podocyte) of the Bowman’s capsule have tiny spaces in
between called the filtration slits or slit pores.
• Small sized molecular substances in the blood such as urea, water, glucose,
salt and amino acids passes out of the blood through the thin permeable
walls of the capillaries into the Bowman’s capsule.
• This fluid is known as the GLOMERULAR FILTRATE
• The amount of glomerular filtrate produced per minute is known Glomerular
Filtration Rate (GFR)
• Large sized molecules such as blood cells and plasma proteins (albumin,
fibrinogen etc) do not pass through the pore and are held back in the blood due to
their large sizes.

SELECTIVE REABSORPTION
 About 180 litres of filtrate is produced daily and only about 1.5 litres of urine
is released, this shows that about 99% of the filtrate are reabsorbed.
• As the glomerular filtrate flows through the renal tubules
• Water and other useful substances such as glucose, salt, amino acids are
reabsorbed into the blood via the surrounding blood capillaries
• The processes involves in reabsorption include- passive transport- osmosis,
diffusion (water, urea) and active transport (amino acids, glucose, Na + etc)

TUBULAR SECRETION
• Large waste substances such as creatinine are secreted into the tubules.
• Sometimes H+, K+ and hydrogencarbonate maybe secreted to keep the blood
pH constant.
• The fluid that eventually leaves the tubule into the collecting duct is known
as urine.
Functions of The Tubules
Proximal Convoluted Tubules- they are lined by simple cuboidal brush border
epithelium which increases their surface area for reabsorption. Almost all essential
nutrients (amino acids, glucose) are reabsorbed in this section and a good
percentage of electrolytes. It aids the maintenance of body pH and ionic
concentration by selective secretion of hydrogen ions, ammonia and potassium ions
into the filtrate and reabsorption of hydrogen carbonate from the filtrate.
Loop of Henle – The descending loop is highly permeable to water but almost not
permeable to electrolytes thus the fluid is concentrated as it moves down the loop.
The ascending loop is impermeable to water but allows transport of electrolytes
actively or passively. It thus plays a role in the maintenance of the osmotic
concentration of the interstitial fluids in the medulla.
Distal Convoluted Tubule- Conditional reabsorption of water and Na + takes place
here. It also reabsorbs HCO 3 (hydrogen carbonate) and selective secretion of K + and
NH3 to maintain pH and sodium-potassium balance in the blood.
Collecting Duct- It extends from the cortex deep into the medulla. Large amount
of water is reabsorbed here to produce a concentrated urine. A small amount of
urea is released into the interstitial medullary fluid to keep osmotic concentration
balance. Plays a role to maintain pH and ionic balance of blood by the selective
secretion of H+ and K+.
MICTURITION
Urine formed is stored in the bladder till a voluntary action by the CNS triggers its
release. The signal is initiated by stretch receptors in the bladder walls which sends
a signal to the CNS. The CNS release motor impulses to initiate the contraction of
the smooth muscles of the bladder and the simultaneous relaxation of the sphincter
muscles on the top of the urethra thus causing urine to be released. The process of
release of urine is known as MICTURITION. An adult human excretes 1-1.5 litres of
urine/day. An average of 25-30 g of urea is excreted daily.