Notes

Grade: IX
Subject: Biology
Unit: 12
Topic: Excretion
Objectives:

• Excretion and excretory products

• Organs of excretion
• Functions of liver
• Excretory system
• Formation of urine
• Kidney failure and treatments
 Excretion and excretory products
 Every cell in the body of an organism performs many
chemical activities.
 These are collectively known as metabolic reactions or
Metabolism.

Examples:
Respiration(catabolism)
Protein synthesis(anabolism)
Amino acid breakdown(catabolism)
Membrane synthesis(anabolism)
Photosynthesis in plants(anabolism)
  These reactions release kinds of by-products which the
cells do not use for any purpose and stays in the body as
wastes.
 These products are known as metabolic wastes.
 If metabolic wastes remain in the cells, they will act as
toxic or poisonous substances.
 It is very essential to maintain the homeostasis in and out
of the cells.
 Thus, these wastes are removed from the body by the
process known as Excretion.
 Most of the excess substances are also removed by
excretion.

Excretion Vs Egestion
 Removal of metabolic waste is known as excretion
 Removal of undigested solid wastes is known as egestion.
 Cellulose as an example, is not a metabolic waste. It is found
in the plant sources we eat and remains undigested inside the
body.
 During absorption, all simple substances are not absorbed
into the body fluids, some are present along with the undigested
food substances.
 The undigested and unabsorbed waste is removed through the
end parts of digestive system in the form of faeces.
Nitrogenous wastes
 Animals consume large amount of proteins.
 Proteins (amino acids) contain C, H, O, N and S.
 Nitrogen is one of the major constitutions of amino
acids.
 Proteins get digested in the digestive system into
amino-acids.
 These are absorbed and thus the blood would contain a
significantly high amount of amino acids.
 They enter the blood circulation (hepatic portal vein) and
reach the chemical factory of the human body, the Liver.
 Liver utilises amino acids and sends a significant
required amount into the blood for the cells to utilise.
  Excess amino acids are converted into other useful
products which further will be used for other metabolic
activities.
 Excess amino acids usually undergo deamination and
ammonia is released.
 Ammonia is highly toxic to the cells.
 Liver through special metabolic reactions, will convert
the ammonia into a relatively less toxic soluble waste
called UREA.

Major nitrogenous wastes include,

Urea
Uric acid
Ammonia
Creatinine
Organs of excretion
The organs of excretion in animals mainly include the skin, lungs and kidneys.
Liver plays many essential key roles in the process of
excretion.
Major functions of liver
 Processes all nutrients.
 Deamination (amino acid breakdown).
 Synthesis of plasma proteins.
 Conversion of Glucose into Glycogen (Glycogenesis).
 Conversion of Glycogen into Glucose (Glycogenolysis).
 Generation of glucose from non-carbohydrate substrates
such as lactic acid, glycerol, and glucogenic amino acids
(Gluconeogenesis).
 Production of bile.
 Destruction of RBC and breakdown of haemoglobin.
 Metabolism and detoxification of alcohol and drugs.
 Production of cholesterol needed to make and repair cell
membranes.
 Storage of Vitamins A, B, D, E and K.
 Storage of Minerals such as iron, potassium, copper,
magnesium, zinc etc.
 The Excretory system
A well-designed system of specific organs arranged in
specific organisation.
These organs perform specific functions such as production,
transport, storage and removal of the urine.
The organs are,
1. A pair of Kidneys
2. A pair of Ureters
3. One Urinary bladder
4. One Urethra

Excretory system in human

 1.The kidneys
 The kidneys are two bean-shaped organs found in
vertebrates.
 They are located on the left and right in the back of the
abdominal cavity.
 In adults, kidneys are about 11 centimetres (4.3 in) in length.
 Each kidney receives blood from the renal artery.
 After filtration, blood gets transported back into the
circulation through renal vein.
 Each kidney is attached to the ureter, a tube that carries
produced urine to the bladder.
 On studying the internal structure of kidneys, three distinct
areas are observed.
➢ Renal cortex
➢ Renal medulla
➢ Renal Pelvis
 The renal cortex is the outer portion of
the kidney between the renal capsule and
the renal medulla.
 The renal medulla is the innermost part of the kidney.
The renal medulla is split up into a number of sections,
known as the renal pyramids.
 The renal pelvis or pelvis of the kidney is the funnel-like
dilated part for urine flowing to the ureter.
 NOTE: On above each kidney, is adrenal gland that
produces various hormones for coordination and response.

Structure of kidney
How do kidneys filter the blood and make urine?
 Each kidney has millions of microscopic structural and
functional units called the nephrons.
 A healthy adult has 0.8 to 1.5 million nephrons in each
kidney.
 Blood is filtered in the nephrons.
 This process regulates the volume of body fluid as well
as levels of many body substances.
 Structure and function of nephron
 Each nephron begins in the renal cortex and loops
down into the medulla, back into the cortex and then
goes down again through the medulla to the pelvis.
 A nephron has mainly three parts.
1. Renal capsule or Bowman’s capsule
2. Renal tubule
3. Collecting duct

1. Bowman’s capsule
 Aka glomerular capsule is a cup-like sac at the
beginning of each nephron.
 Each bowman’s capsule encloses the glomerulus- a tuft
of capillary network.
 Glomerulus brings the blood to be filtered into the
nephron.
 Fluids and excretory wastes from blood in the
glomerulus are ultra-filtered through the bowman’s
capsule, resulting in the formation of ultra-filtrate or
glomerular filtrate, the primary urine.
2. Renal tubule.
 It is the extended tubular portion of nephron that is
connected to the Bowman’s capsule.
 It has three parts.
1.Proximal convoluted tubule
2.Loop of Henle
3.Distal convoluted tubule
  All these structures play major roles in reabsorption and
secretion stages of urine formation.
3. Collecting duct
Each distal convoluted tubule delivers its filtrate to a system
of collecting ducts.
The collecting duct system begins in the renal cortex and
extends deep into the renal medulla.
These ducts perform water reabsorption and urea secretion
during urine formation.
 Formation of urine
Urine is formed in the kidneys by three stages performed by
nephrons.
1. Glomerular ultra-filtration
2. Tubular selective reabsorption
3. Secretion

1. Glomerular ultra-filtration
 Renal artery enters the kidney.
 It further divides into renal arterioles.
 An arteriole brings the blood into the glomerulus, tuft
of capillary network inside the Bowman’s capsule.
 Another arteriole takes blood away from the
glomerulus.
 The blood vessel bringing blood to the glomerulus is
quite wide, but the one taking blood away is narrow.
 Thus, the blood in the glomerulus cannot get away
easily.
 Quite a high pressure builds up, squeezing the blood in
the glomerulus against the capillary wall.
 Both the capillary wall and wall of bowman’s capsule
have small holes in them.
 Small molecules such as water, salts, glucose, amino
acids, urea are filtered from the glomerulus into the
Bowman’s capsule.
 This is known as glomerular ultra-filtration. The formed
primary concentrate urine is called the ultra-filtrate.
 Protein molecules and blood cells remain in the blood as
they cannot be filtered due to their complex structure.
They are too big.
2. Tubular selective reabsorption
 The arteriole that takes blood away from the
glomerulus further divides into tiny capillaries and
wrap around the renal tubules.
 These are known as peri-tubular capillaries.
 They bring the blood in close contact with the renal
tubules.
 The filtrate contains many essential substances
required for the body.
 All the glucose, amino acids, some of the water and
some salts are needed to be sent back to the blood.
 The useful substances from the nephron are
reabsorbed back into the blood in the peritubular
capillaries.
 Reabsorption happens by diffusion, osmosis and active
transport.
3. Tubular secretion
 The substances escaped from the filtration are present
in the blood in peritubular capillaries and are secreted
into the interstitial fluid and nephron.
 Cells of nephrons also secrete some ions like hydrogen
and potassium into the urine.
 By this process, the ionic, acid-base and the balance of
other body fluids are maintained.
 The concentration of substances is regulated by
selective reabsorption and secretion in the tubules and
 the formed urine is further transported to the collecting
duct system.
 Collecting ducts mainly perform water reabsorption
and secretion of urea.
Urine
The urine produced is 95% water and 5% nitrogenous
wastes. Wastes such as urea, ammonia, creatinine are
excreted in the urine. Apart from these, the potassium, sodium
and calcium ions are also excreted.
 2.The ureters
 In human anatomy, the ureters are tubes made of smooth
muscle fibres that propel urine from the kidneys to the
urinary bladder.
 In the adult, the ureters are usually 25–30 cm (10–12 in)
long and around 3–4 mm (0.12– 0.16 in) in diameter.

3.The urinary bladder

 The urinary bladder is a hollow muscular organ in
humans and some other animals that collects and stores
urine from the kidneys before disposal by urination.
 In the human the bladder is a hollow muscular, and
distensible (or elastic) involuntary organ, that sits on the
pelvic floor.
 Urine enters the bladder via the ureters and exits via the
urethra.
 The typical human bladder will hold between 300 and 500
mL before the urge to empty occurs, but can hold
considerably more.
4. The urethra
Stored urine from the bladder is excreted out through a tube
called the urethra.
The urethra is a thin, fibromuscular tube that begins at the
lower opening of the bladder and extends through the pelvic
cavity of the body.
At the start of the urethra are sphincter muscles.
The urethral sphincters are two muscles used to control the
exit of urine from the urinary bladder through the urethra.
The two urethral sphincter muscles are,
 1. The internal sphincter muscles
2. The external sphincter muscles
The internal urethral sphincter provides involuntary
control of urination.
The external urethral sphincter provides voluntary control
of urination.
Any damage to these muscles can lead to urinary incontinence,
involuntary leakage of urine when not needed to.
Urethra in male urinary system is longer than that of female.
This is because, in males, urethra travels into the external
reproductive organ known as penis.
Thus, male system is aka genitourinary system, or urogenital
system.
Females use their urethra only for urinating, but males use
their urethra for both urination and ejaculation. Ejaculation
is the process of deposition/release of semen from the male
body.

Kidney failure and treatments

Kidney (renal) failure is when kidneys don't work as well as
they should.
The term "kidney failure" covers a lot of problem that can
result in kidney failure.
These include,
Inappropriate blood supply to kidneys.
Abnormally high blood pressure.
Nephritis- the functional units of the kidneys become inflamed.
Kidney infection
Kidney stone formation
Hormonal imbalances
Diabetes etc.
Doctors suggest certain treatments for the patients with kidney
failure.
It mainly includes,
1. Medications-
 Many types of medicines are used to treat various kidney
diseases.
2. Haemodialysis-
 Haemodialysis is a way of replacing some of the
functions of your kidney, if your kidneys have failed.
 It is also known as renal replacement therapy or
artificial kidney or kidney machine.
 This uses an artificial external machine that can filter
blood to separate urine.
 Blood is pumped out of the body to the machine where it
is passed through a series of tiny tubes.
 A dialysis fluid is used in the process, called the
dialysate.
 It is separated from the blood using artificial partially
permeable membrane.
 Blood is taken out of the body using tubes connected to
the artery and passed to the machine.
 As the blood passes through the tubes, the substances
diffuse through the membrane from higher
concentration region to lower concentration region,
down/towards the concentration gradient.
 For example, there is no urea in the dialysate but blood
contains significant amount of urea. So, urea will diffuse
from the blood to the dialysate.
 Dialysate can be prepared in specific concentration
according to the patient’s blood concentrations.
 Proteins remain in the blood as they are too large to be
filtered through the membrane.
 Though dialysis is an effective treatment method for
kidney failure, it has many disadvantages as follows.
1. It is a time-consuming method.
2. Patient would be inconvenient to visit hospital
at regular times.
3. Restricted diet should be followed.
4. Quality of life would be compromised.
5. Costly as it is done in a regular basis.
6. Reabsorption is not performed in dialysis.
 3. Kidney transplant
 Aka renal transplant.
 It involves complex surgical procedure.
 The healthy kidney is removed from the donor’s body.
 A donor can be a deceased person or living person.
 Immediately after removal of kidney from the donor, it is
well preserved in ice cold condition in refrigerator.
 The healthy functioning kidney is then grafted into the
body of the recipient.

Limitations and problems while kidney

Transplantation

 Availability of healthy donor.

 Rejection by the receiver's immune system- The
recipient’s body identifies the new tissue as foreign
substance and creates immune response and make it
incompatible for the transplant.
 Need of usage of immunosuppressants- Using
immunosuppressants, the rejection (immune responses)
can be limited or completely avoided for the transplant to
successfully finish.
This would lead to reduced immune responses in the recipient
against even a minor infection.

Note: Kidney transplantation is done between close relatives to

minimise the chances of rejection.