Excretion

Excretion: Removal of metabolic waste from the body which is

toxic, metabolic waste are also called as excretory product

Egestion: Getting rid of the undigested food in faeces is

called Egestion
Deamination: The removal of nitrogen containing part of amino
acids to form urea
Excretory Products in Animals
Carbon dioxide is produced in cells during respiration and
excreted by lungs
Bile pigment are produced by the breakdown of
haemoglobin in the liver and excreted in the faeces
Urea is produced by deamination of excess proteins in the
liver and excreted by kidney in the urine.
Excess water and salt are removed by the kidney
In mammals excess proteins are converted into urea
Proteins are digested by the enzymes in stomach, duodenum, and
ileum
Proteins are broken down in to amino acid
The amino acids are absorbed in the ileum by villi into blood
capillaries
The absorbed food is taken by hepatic portal vein to the liver

The amount of amino acid needed by the body are carried by the
blood
Excess amount is spilt into carbohydrate and ammonia
Carbohydrate is stored in the liver as glycogen
Deamination
Ammonia is converted in to urea
Urea is taken by the blood to kidney to excrete
Small amount is excreted in the sweat
Functions of liver
1. Converts excess amino acids in to urea and carbohydrate in
a process called deamination
2. Controls the amount of glucose in the blood with the help of
hormones insulin and glucagon
3. Stores carbohydrates as glycogen
4. Breaks down old blood cells, stores iron and excreting the
remains of the haemoglobin as bile pigment
5. Makes bile
6. Breaks down harmful substances such as alcohol
7. Stores vitamins D,B,D,E and K
8. Stores potassium

Excretion (Kidney Structure)

There are two kidneys behind the intestine

There are three main
Cortex

parts

in the kidney

Medulla Pelvis

Between the cortex and

medulla there is a
structure called
Nephron
In Nephron filtration of
toxic substances takes
place

Leading from the pelvis is a tube

called ureter

Sphincter muscle
Urethra

Structure

of Nephron:
Nephron starts with a cup shaped capsule
Bowmans capsule (Renal capsule)
Inside the capsule there is a dense network (tangle) of blood
capillaries called glomerulus
The blood vessel bringing blood to glomerulus is wide
The one taking blood away is narrow
Blood in the glomerulus cannot get away easily
High pressure buildup squeezing the blood in the glomerulus
against capillary walls
There are holes on the walls of renal capsule

Small molecules enter through these holes in the renal capsule

space
Rest of the Nephron is long and coiled
At some places the coiled part is straight and bent in U shape
This part is called loop of Henle
There is a network of capillaries surrounding where re absorption
takes place.
Mechanism of Kidney
Ultra filtration
The blood in renal artery contain large amount of urea , glucose,
water, mineral ion and some amino acids.
When it reaches glomerulus
Pressure of blood and concentration gradient of materials are
high.
This causes the diffusion of substances from blood to Bowmans
capsule
This is called glomerular filtrate (its a mixture of urea, water,
glucose and mineral ion that diffused from blood to the nephrone)

Re-absorption
The glomerulus filtrate moves in Nephron
When it reaches the loop of henle

Diffusion, active transport takes place to reabsorb the valuable

substances (Glucose and Amino acids) back to blood
Some water as well as minerals also moves into blood by osmosis
Bladder
Bladder stores urine
It has stretchy walls which can hold large quantities of urine
Leading out from the bladder there is tube called urethra
The sphincter muscles are tightly closed
Opens when bladder is full
Adult can consciously control this sphincter muscles
For young mammals it opens automatically
Name of the parts
Glomerulus

Functions
Filters substances, a high
pressure is build up squeezing
the blood in the glomerulus

Renal capsule

against the capillary walls

Collects the filtrate and allow

Renal tubule

filtration
Re-absorption of water ,
glucose, salts, mineral ions

Collecting duct

amino acids back in the blood

Re-absorption of water, passes
urine to pelvis or ureter

Dialysis:
When a persons kidney stops working properly or complete
kidney failure
Waste products build up in the blood.
This causes death if not treated.
The best treatment is kidney transplant.
But the tissue type of the recipient must match closely.
Or else the transplanted kidney will be rejected.
The usual treatment for a person with kidney failure is using
dialysis.
Function:
The tube is attached to the patients vein
And the other end is attached to the dialysis machine
There is another tube coming out of the machine to the patients
vein
The blood is sucked from the patients vein goes through the
machine and out from the other side back to the patients vein
When the blood enters the dialysis machine
Its rich in waste materials (urea, excess water, minerals)

The tubes inside the dialysis machine are made of partially

permeable membrane for diffusion
The tubes are also surrounded with dialysis fluid which is similar
to plasma
The concentration of the waste products in the blood is much
higher in the blood than in dialysis fluid
This creates a concentration gradient
Diffusion occurs and waste products leave the blood to the
dialysis fluid, then exists the machine and gets disposed
The dialysis fluid has to be renewed continuously to keep the
concentration gradients of waste products higher in blood
Thus ensuring that all waste products leave the blood
The clean blood returns to the patients vein

Substances in and out:

There is no urea I the dialysis fluid, so urea diffuses out of
the patients blood and into the fluid
Protein in the blood remains there, coz there molecules are
too big to pass through the membrane
Disadvantages of dialysis:
Patient need to be treated two or three times a week
Treatment lasts for several hours

Patient need to go to the hospital

Pain
Tiring
Discomfort
Diet should be controlled
Chances of spreading blood borne disorder

The immune system can reject the transplant.

The person receiving the transplant is the recipient.
The person from whose body the organ was taken is donor.
The organ to be transplanted must be removed quickly from
the body and kept cold. So they do not deteriorate.
Or else the recipients immune system recognizes the donor
organ as being foreign and attacks it.
This is called rejection.
Disadvantage:
The recipient is given drugs called immunosuppressant
which stops white blood cells working efficiently to decrease
the chances of rejection.
But the immune system will stop doing the normal job.
So the person suffers from all sorts of infectious diseases.
And the drug has to be taken for the rest of the recipients
life.

 So that the rejection can be reduced if the recipient have

close relationship with the donor.
So the recipients immune system is less likely to react to
the donated organ as if it were foreign.
Advantage:
Long term solution
Better quality of life
More efficient control of composition of blood
Can have wider diet