Excretory Products and their Eliminations

 Elimination of metabolic waste products from the animal body to regulate the composition
of body fluids and tissues is called excretion. These waste products include ammonia, uric
acid, urea, carbon dioxide and ions like , , Cl– and phosphates and sulphate.
Nitrogenous waste products (non volatile waste products)
 The metabolic waste which contains nitrogen is called nitrogenous waste.
 Nitrogenous waste are produced by deamination of excess and unwanted amino
acids, nucleic acids present in the food (exogenous source)
 They are also produced due to breakdown of body’s own proteins and nucleic acids(
endogenous source)
 Depending on the nature of nitrogenous waste, excreted by animals, it is classified
into four different types;
1. Ammonotelism
 The process of removing ammonia is called ammonotelism and organisms that excrete
ammonia are called ammonotelic (bony fishes, protozoans, sponges,aquatic amphibians-
tadpoles of frog, and insects).
 Ammonia is the most toxic and soluble in water.
2. Ureotelism
 The process of removing urea is called ureotelism and the organism that release urea as
nitrogenous wastes are called ureotelic (mammals, terrestrial amphibians-frogs, prawns and
reptiles- Alligators, turtles).
3. Uricotelism
 The process of removing uric acid is called uricotelism and the organism that release uric
acid as nitrogenous wastes are called uricotelic (reptiles, birds and land snails,humans).
 Uric acid is least toxic and least soluble in water.
4. Aminotelism
 The process of removing amino acid is called aminotelism and the organism that release
uric acid as nitrogenous wastes are called aminotelic (molluscs-Unio, echinoderms-star
fish).
Human excretory system consists of:

1. A pair of kidneys- formation of urine

2. A pair of ureters- carries urine from kidney to urinary bladder
3. A urinary bladder- stores urine
4. A urethra- through which urine is excreted.

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  Kidneys are reddish brown bean shaped structure situated between last thoracic and lumber
vertebra. Each kidney has a notch on its inner side called hilum through which ureter, blood
vessels and nerves enter.
 Kidney is protected by renal capsule.

 Inside the hilum has broad funnel shaped space called renal pelvis with projection called
calyces.
 Inside the kidney are two zone- outer cortex and inner medulla. Medulla is divided into
medullary pyramids projecting into calyx.
 Cortex extends between medullary pyramids as renal column called Columns of Bertini.

 The functional unit of kidney is nephron. Each kidney contains about one million nephrons.
 Each nephron has two parts- the renal corpuscle and renal tubules.

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 a. Renal corpuscle
 Renal corpuscle consists of Bowman’s capsule and glomerulus.
 At each end of the nephron, there is double walled cup like structure called Bowman’s
capsule which is made of flattened epithelial cells in the outer wall and specialized cells
called podocytes in their inner wall.
 It is responsible for ultrafiltration
 Glomerulus is the tuft of capillaries formed by afferent arteriole. Blood from glomerulus is
carried away by efferent arteriole.
 The afferent arteriole in a nephron has a larger diameter(wider) than the outgoing efferent
arteriole because this rise the blood pressure in the glomerulus capillaries lead to the
ultrafiltration of the blood in the Bowman's capsule.

b. Renal tubules
 Bowman’s capsule continues with tubular parts divided into Proximal Convoluted
tubules (lies next to bowman’s capsule), Henle’s loop( U-shaped and divided into two
parts- Descending limb and ascending limb) and Distal Convoluted tubule (lies away from
bowman’s capsule and connected to collecting duct).

 The malpighian tubules, PCT and DCT of nephron are situated in cortical region where
as loops of Henle’s into medulla.

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  Based on the location, nephrons are of two types:

Juxta medullary Nephrons Cortical Nephrons

a. 15% of total nephrons and its Loop of a. 85% of total nephrons and its Loop of
Henle’s are very long and extend deep into Henle’s is short and extend only a little into
medulla. medulla.

b. The glomeruli lie close to the inner margin

b. The glomeruli lie in the outer cortex.
of the cortex.

c. Responsible for conservation of water c. Helps in processing urine

Note:
 At the contact of ascending limb of Henle’s loop and afferent arteriole of same nephron, the
cells of ascending limb are modified to form Macula densa and those of afferent arteriole
forms juxtaglomerular cells.
 Macula densa monitors levels of NaCl in urine and Juxtaglomerular cells produce an
enzyme renin which regulates blood pressure.
Urine formation ( uropoiesis)

1. Glomerular filtration ( ultrafiltration)

 As blood enters into the glomerulus, small molecules of blood such as glucose, amino
acids, uric acids, urea, creatinine, ions vitamins, water etc. filters into the lumen of
Bowman’s capsule from Glomerular capillaries. This process is called ultrafiltration.
 Larger molecules such as blood cells, proteins and lipids are not filtered and collected
by efferent arteriole.
 Glomerular capillaries blood pressure cause filtration of blood through 3 layers
(endothelium of glomerular blood vessels, epithelium of Bowman’s capsule and basement
layer between two membranes as ultra-filtration( ultrafiltration depends on effective
filtration pressure and permeability of the Glomerular membranes).

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  The amount of filtrate formed by kidneys per minute is called glomerular filtration rate
(GFR) which is 125 ml/minute.
 Ultrafiltration is purely a passive or physical process.
 Glomerular Filtration rate is controlled by Juxta glomerular apparatus (JGA).
 99% of filtrate has to be reabsorbed by renal tubules called reabsorption.
2. Tubular reabsorption (Function of Tubules)

 Many of the substances that pass into the glomerular filtrate are useful to the body
 These substances are therefore reabsorbed into the blood as the filtrate passes along the
nephron
 This process is known as selective reabsorption since not all substances are reabsorbed.
 Reabsorbed substances include water, salts, glucose, and amino acids
 Most of this reabsorption occurs in the proximal convoluted tubule.
 Note that while most water and salts are reabsorbed in the proximal convoluted tubule,
the loop of Henle and collecting duct are also involved in the reabsorption of these
substances.

a. Proximal Convoluted Tubules (PCT)

 The lining of the proximal convoluted tubule is composed of a single layer of epithelial
cells which are adapted to carry out reabsorption in several ways:
 Sodium ions (Na+) are transported from the proximal convoluted tubule into the
surrounding tissues by active transport
 The positively charged sodium ions creates an electrical gradient, causing chloride
ions (Cl-) to follow by diffusion
 Entire Sugars ( glucose) and amino acids are reabsorbed actively.
 The movement of ions, sugars, and amino acids into the surrounding tissues raises
the osmolarity of the tissues, so water leaves the proximal convoluted
tubule by osmosis
 Urea moves out of the proximal convoluted tubule by diffusion
 All of the substances that leave the proximal convoluted tubule for the surrounding
tissues eventually make their way into nearby capillaries down their concentration
gradients

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 b. Henle’s Loop

 The role of the loop of Henle is to enable the production of urine that is more
concentrated than the blood, and to therefore conserve water
o Note that it is also possible to produce urine that is less concentrated than the blood;
this is important when water intake is high to prevent blood becoming too dilute
 The loop of Henle achieves this by the use of a countercurrent multiplier system

The process in the loop of Henle

 Sodium and chloride ions are pumped out of the filtrate in the ascending limb of the loop
of Henle into the surrounding medulla region, raising its osmolarity
 The ascending limb of the loop of Henle is impermeable to water, so water is unable to
leave the loop by osmosis.
 The osmolarity of the ascending limb decreases as it rises back into the cortex due to
the removal of solutes and retention of water
 The neighbouring descending limb is permeable to water, so water moves out of the
descending limb by osmosis due to the high osmolarity of the medulla created by the
ascending limb.
 The descending limb has few transport proteins in the membranes of its cells, so has low
permeability to ions.
 The osmolarity of the filtrate increases as the descending limb moves down into the
medulla due to the loss of water and retention of ions
 The water and ions that leave the loop of Henle for the medulla make their way into nearby
capillaries.
 The capillary that flows directly alongside the loop of Henle is known as the vasa recta.
 The vasa recta also supplies oxygen to and removes carbon dioxide from the respiring cells
of the loop of Henle

c. Distal Convoluted Tubules (DCT) – conditional reabsorption of Na+ and water. Maintains pH
and sodium- potassium balance.
 During deficiency of water in the blood or body, the poaterior lobe of pituitary gland
secretes antidiuretic hormone (ADH) or vasopressin which makes DCT permeable to
water.
 As a result, water from DCT diffuses out into blood capillaries and maintains the normal
amount of water in the body.

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  The secretion of ADH stops when there is sufficient amount of water in the body and DCT
becomes impermeable to water.
 Adrenal gland secretes aldosterone to reabsorb sodium ions from the DCT when there is
deficiency of ions in the blood.

d. Collecting Duct– large amount of water is reabsorbed to produce concentrated urine.

3. Tubular secretion
 Tubular secretion is the transfer of materials from peritubular capillaries to the renal tubular
lumen and occurs mainly by active transport and passive diffusion.
 Renal secretion is different from reabsorption because it deals with filtering and cleaning
substances from the blood, rather than retaining them. The substances that are secreted into
the tubular fluid for removal from the body include:

 Potassium ions (K+)- secreted into filtrate in DCT and collecting duct by active transport.

 Hydrogen ions (H+), Ammonium ions (NH4+), HCO3- ions from blood are secreted into the
filtrate in DCT by active transport.

 Creatinine, hippuric acid, drugs, pigments are secreted into filtrate in PCT from interstitial
fluid actively or passively.

 Urea enters the filtrate in thin ascending limb of Henle’s loop.

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Note: Tubular secretion is less significance in mammals, but is of great importance in marine
fishes and desert amphibians. These animals lack glomerulus and Bownman’s capsulein their
nephrons. In these animals tubular secretion is the only mode of urine formation. They form
urine by secreting solutes such as ures, creatinine and mineral ions into their tubules.

Mechanism of concentration of urine (Counter current mechanism)

 The flow of filtrate in two limbs of Henle’s loop is in opposite direction to form counter
current.
 During the passage of nepric filtrate through ascending limb of loop of Henle, sodium ions
diffuses out into interstitial fluid.
 As a result, increased electrolytic concentration in interstitial fluid increases its osmolarity
and draws out water from descending limb by osmosis and enters into the blood stream.
 Very little water is reabsorbed from descending limb because passive diffusion of of NaCl
in the nephric filtrate decreses the difference in salt concentration between nephric filtrate
and the interstitial fluid. Thus, content in descending limb becomes hypertonic.
 Therefore, henle’s loop is responsible for concentrating urine.
 Similarly, the flow of blood in two limbs of vasa recta is in a counter current pattern.
 Blood flows slowly through descending limb of vasa recta and allows sufficient time for the
diffusion of water and solutes from interstitial fluid into blood and on reaching to ascending
limb of vasa recta, solutes are diffused back in to the interstitial fluid
 Thus, counter current in vasa recta a. Prevents loss of Na and Cl ions from rnal medulla
and b. helps to maintain concentration gradient in renal medulla and thus assist in
concentrating urine by loop of Henle.

Regulation of kidney function

`1. Renin-Angiotensin-Aldosterone system (RAAS)

 The renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system, illustrated below proceeds through several steps

to produce angiotensin II, which acts to stabilize blood pressure and volume.
 Renin (secreted by a part of the juxtaglomerular complex) acts on angiotensinogen, which
is made in the liver and converts it to angiotensin I.
 Angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) converts angiotensin I to angiotensin II.
 Angiotensin II raises blood pressure by constricting blood vessels. It also triggers the release
of the mineralocorticoid aldosterone from the adrenal cortex, which in turn stimulates the
renal tubules to reabsorb more sodium.

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  Angiotensin II also triggers the release of anti-diuretic hormone (ADH) from the
hypothalamus, leading to water retention in the kidneys.

Figure 4.
The renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system increases blood pressure and volume. The
hormone ANP has antagonistic effects.

2. Control by Antidiuretic Hormone (ADH)

 When volume of water or body fluids decreases due to profuse sweating or
excessive bleeding, blood pressure and filtration pressure in glomeruli decreases
causing decrease in GFR.
 This causes increased secretion of ADH which makes DCT and collecting ducts
permeable to water which increases reabsorption of water.
 On the other hand, when volume of fluid increases above normal due to excess
intake of water, blood pressure and filtration pressure increases in glomeruli. This
leads to decline in ADH secretion, which lowers the permeability of DCT and
collecting duct membrane. As a result water reabsorption will not take place.
3. Osmoregulation

 Osmoregulation is the process by which the balance of water and solutes(osmotic balance)
in the body fluids of an organism is maintained
 In vertebrates osmoregulation is carried out by kidneys
 Kidneys remove nitrogenous waste as well as any unwanted sugars and salts from
the blood
 Nitrogenous waste is produced when there are excess amino acids present
after the digestion of dietary protein
 Amino acids cannot be stored, so are converted first to toxic ammonia, then
to a less toxic form; in humans this is urea, while some other animals e.g.
birds and insects produce uric acid
 The urea or uric acid can then be safely excreted from the body.

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4. Regulation of pH

 Kidney helps in maintaining the constancy of pH (7.4) of the body fluids by eliminating
excess of acids and bases.
 When pH declines below 7.4, its called acidosis and when elevates above 7.4, its called
alkalosis.

Micturition
 The process of expulsion of urine from the urinary bladder is called micturition.
 The neural mechanism that causes it is called micturition reflex. Urine formed in nephron is
stored in urinary bladder till a voluntary signal is given by CNS. This initiates the
contraction of smooth muscles of the bladder and simultaneous relaxation of the urethral
sphincter causing the release of urine.
Disorders of Excretory System
 Uremia– there is high concentration of non-protein nitrogen (urea, uric acid, creatinine).
Urea can be removed by hemodialysis.
 Renal failure– also known as kidney failure where glomerular filtration is ceased and both
kidney stops working. Kidney transplant is the ultimate method in correction of acute
kidney failure.
 Renal Calculi– formation of stone or insoluble mass of crystallized salts (precipitation of
uric acid or accumulation of oxlate crystals) formed within the kidney.
 Glomerulonephritis (Bright’s Disease)-inflammation of glomeruli of kidney due to entry
of protein or red blood corpuscles in to filtrate due to injury.
 Diabetes mellitus- rise in blood sugar and presence of glucose in the urine is called
Glycosuria.
 Diabetes insipidus – disorder that causes an imbalance of fluids in the body and increases
urine output and frequency. Caused due to low level of Antidiuretic hormone.
 Urinary tract infection (UTI) – infection of urethra, bladder, ureter and kidney. Caused
mainly by bacteria Escherichia coli (E. coli) which lives in our gastrointestinal tract.
Treatment of Kidney Failure

 Kidney failure can occur in one or both kidneys for a variety of reasons, such as
o Physical damage from an injury
o High blood pressure
o Diabetes
o Overuse of certain drugs (e.g. aspirin)
o Infection

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  Kidney failure is dangerous and can be fatal within a relatively short time period
o Humans can survive with one functioning kidney
 If the kidneys fail urea is not excreted; this leads to a build-up of urea in the blood
which can become toxic at high concentrations
 Kidney failure can also lead to disruption in the balance of water and solutes in the blood
o This can lead to problems relating to osmosis and cell damage as well as more
specific problems relating to excess quantities of certain mineral ions
 There are two forms of treatment for kidney failure
o Dialysis
 Toxins, metabolic waste products and excess substances are removed from
the blood by diffusion through a dialysis membrane
o Kidney transplant
 The non-functioning kidneys are replaced with a functioning kidney from a
donor
 Note that the non-functioning kidneys are usually left in place while the new
kidney is attached to the blood supply elsewhere in the abdomen

Haemodialysis

 Dialysis is a process used to separate small and large molecules with a partially permeable
membrane
 Haemodialysis, also spelled hemodialysis, is a form of dialysis treatment that needs to be
carried out several times a week and that requires a dialysis machine
o Another form of dialysis is known as peritoneal dialysis and involves use of the
patient’s own internal membranes rather than a machine
 Blood flows via a tube from the patient to the dialysis machine
 Inside the dialysis machine partially permeable dialysis membranes separate the patient's
blood from dialysis fluid
 Small molecules such as urea and salts can fit through pores in the dialysis membrane
so exchange of substances can take place
o The dialysis fluid contains no urea, so there is always a urea diffusion
gradient causing urea to diffuse out of the blood and into the fluid
o The dialysis fluid contains a salt concentration similar to the ideal blood
concentration, so diffusion of salts across the membrane only occurs when there is
an imbalance
 If the blood is too high in salts they will diffuse out of the blood and if the
blood is too low in salts they will diffuse in

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 o The fluid contains a glucose concentration equal to normal blood sugar levels,
preventing the outward diffusion of glucose across the membrane when blood
glucose levels are normal
 If blood sugar levels are elevated the glucose will diffuse out of the blood
into the fluid
 The blood and fluid flow in opposite directions to ensure a concentration gradient along the
whole length of the membrane
 The fluid in the machine is also continually refreshed so that concentration gradients are
maintained between the dialysis fluids and the blood
o This means that each time blood circulates through the machine some more of the
urea it contains passes into the dialysis fluid, until almost all of it is removed
o Each haemodialysis session takes 3-4 hours to complete
 Patients are given a drug that prevents the formation of blood clots during dialysis
o Such drugs are known as anticoagulants

Haemodialysis involves passing blood through a dialysis machine, which enables removal of toxic
urea and a rebalancing of water and solutes.

Peritoneal dialysis

 In peritoneal dialysis, the blood is cleaned inside your body, not outside as with
hemodialysis.
 The inside lining of your own belly acts as a natural filter. You will need a minor operation
to place a catheter in your abdomen (belly) for access.
 During the treatment, the abdominal area (called the peritoneal cavity) is slowly filled with
dialysate (dialysis fluid) through the catheter. The blood stays in the arteries and veins

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 (blood vessels) that line the peritoneal cavity. Extra fluid and waste products are drawn out
of the blood and into the dialysate.
 You do the exchanges yourself three to four times a day. There are no machines. You put a
bag of dialysate (about two quarts) into the peritoneal cavity through the catheter. The
dialysate stays there for about four or five hours before it is drained back into the bag and
thrown away.

Kidney transplant

 An alternative to potentially restricting dialysis treatments is to have a kidney transplant

 This involves taking a single, healthy kidney from a donor and transplanting it into a patient
with kidney failure
 Kidney transplants are considered to be a better long term solution to kidney failure than
dialysis
o The patient has more freedom as they no longer need to have dialysis several times a
week
o Patients often feel ill after dialysis and again as toxins start to accumulate a few days
later; a transplant enables a patient to be healthy for an extended period
o Diet can be much less restricted than it needs to be when a patient is on dialysis
 There are still some risks associated with kidney transplants
o Donors won’t have the same antigens on their cell surface membranes as the patient
so there will be some immune response to the new kidney
o Immunosuppressant drugs need to be taken for the rest of a patient’s life to reduce
the risk of organ rejection; these can leave the patient vulnerable to infections
o A kidney will often be rejected over time, so a new kidney transplant is often
needed after several years
o There are not enough donors to cope with the demand, and waiting lists are long

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