Excretory System

Jacob Jossart, Zach Muzzarelli, Daria Hoang, Cris Boggio

What is the excretory system?

- Vital process
- Maintains homeostasis by removing excess
water and waste
- Takes waste products left behind following
previous absorption of nutrients
- Compacts wastes into urine and feces for
disposal

Body Parts involved:

1. Lungs
- excretes carbon dioxide and water vapor
2. Skin
- excretes water, salts, nitrogen wastes
3. Kidneys
- filters and excretes nitrogenous wastes,
salts, water, and other substances through
urinary tracts

Lungs
- Excretes carbon dioxide and water vapor
- Detoxification: removes harmful substances
so that they are not poisonous

Skin
- Excretes water, salts, small amounts of
nitrogen wastes, and other substances in
sweat
- Helps the kidneys control the salt
composition of the blood; the salt and waste
is excreted through perspiration
- Water and salt must be replenished to
maintain normal body functions

Kidneys
- Breakdown of proteins leads to accumulation
of nitrogen wastes
- Excretion of water is necessary to dissolve
wastes
- Kidneys closely regulate the chemical
composition of blood

Structure of Kidney

Structure of a nephron
1. Nephrons - functional
units of the kidney
a.

b.

Bowmans capsule: cupshaped capsule that

surrounds a tight ball of
capillaries that retain
cells and large
molecules
Glomerulus - fine
network of capillaries

Parts of the kidney

1. Renal cortex: the outermost portion of the
kidney, of tissues mass
2. Renal medulla: inner of kidney
3. Renal pelvis: the funnel-shaped structure in
the center of the kidney

What does the kidney filter?

1. The kidney filters toxins, urea, water, and
mineral salts
2. The most common metabolic waste is urea,
which is converted from ammonia
3. While the kidney filters out all these
materials, many will be reabsorbed (esp.
water)

Renal Tubule
Processes of the Renal Tubule:
- Filtration
- Reabsorption and Secretion
- Formation of urine

Process of Filtration
- High pressure forces water, urea, glucose,
vitamins and salts through glomerulus
- Travels to Bowmans Capsule
- About one-fifth of the fluid part of blood filters
into Bowmans Capsule
- The rest remains in the capillaries

Reabsorption
- Body needs to retain many of the
substances that were removed from the
blood by filtration
- Reabsorption: Filtrate flows through the
renal tubule, these materials return to the
blood by being selectively transported
through walls of the renal tube and into the
surrounding capillaries
- Osmosis and active transport

Secretion
- Secretion- when filtrate reaches the distal
convoluted tubule, some substances pass
from blood into the filtrate
- include waste and toxic materials

Formation of Urine (part of reabsorption and secretion)

- Fluid and wastes remain in the distal
convoluted tubule and form urine
- Urine from several multiple renal tubes then
flow into a collecting duct

Loop of Henle (part of reabsorption and secretion)

- Function is to close the collecting duct
- Water moves out of the collecting duct
because the concentration of sodium
chloride is higher in the fluid surrounding the
collecting duct than it is inside of it

Elimination of Urine
- urine from collecting ducts flow through renal
pelvis and into a narrow tube called a ureter
- ureter leads from each kidney to bladder
- this squeezes the urine out through the
urethra
- 500 mL a day

Diseases of the Excretory System

- Nephritis: inflammation of kidneys
- Nephrosis: includes swelling, protein in urine, low
blood protein levels, high cholesterol levels
- Vesicoureteral Reflux: when urine flows back from
the bladder into the ureters
- Cystitis: inflammation of bladder
- Cancer: uncontrolled cell growth

Other Collaborative Systems:

The excretory system also works with the:

- respiratory system (lungs)

- urinary system (kidneys, bladder)
- integumentary system (skin)