EXCRETORY

SYSTEM
 Excretory System
The excretory system is a biological
system that removes excess,
unnecessary or dangerous materials from
an organism. It is responsible for the
elimination of oxygen waste products of
metabolism as well as other nitrogenous
materials. Since the normal operation of
most biological systems creates waste,
the excretory system is not necessarily
distinct from other systems. Instead, it
often represents the various excretory
processes of several different systems .
 Excretory Function
• Every organism, from the smallest protist to the largest
mammal, must rid itself of the potentially harmful by-
products of its own vital activities. This process in living
things is called elimination, which may be considered to
encompass all of the various mechanisms and processes
by which life forms dispose of or throw off waste products,
toxic substances, and dead portions of the organism.
• Egestion is the act of excreting unusable or undigested
material from a cell (as opposed to metabolized waste), as
in the case of single-celled organisms, or from the
digestive tract of multi-cellular organisms.
• As defined above, elimination broadly defines the
mechanisms of waste disposal by living systems at all
levels of complexity. The term may be used
interchangeably with excretion, though not all elimination
necessarily takes place in the excretory system.
• Every human has two kidneys. Each kidney is made up of three
sections: the renal cortex, the renal medulla, and the renal pelvis.
The blood arrives at the kidney via the renal artery, which splits
into many afferent arterioles. These arterioles go to the
Bowman's Capsules of nephrons, where the wastes are taken out
of the blood by pressure filtration. Peritubular capillaries also
surround the nephron so substances can be taken in and out of
the blood.

• The Excretory System is to remove wastes and maintain the

internal stability of the cell.
•The renal cortex is the outer layer of the kidney and the medulla is the
inner layer of the kidney. The renal pelvis takes urine away from the kidney
via the ureter. Both of the ureters lead the urine into the body's only urinary
bladder, which expands and sends nerve impulses when full. From there,
urine is expelled through the urethra and out of the body. The processes
occurring in successive portions of the nephron accomplish the function of
urine formation: Urine is made up of unwanted substances that have been
filtered from the blood by the kidney’s nephron. Blood enters the nephron
through arterioles urine formation begins with the process of filtration which
goes on the renl corpuscles. The renal corpuscles, filtration occurs as fluid
and small molecules and blood are filtered from the glomerular capillaries.
The filtrate is captured within a chamber called Bowman’s capsule. The
filtrate then enters the renal tubule. The filtrate within the Bowman’s capsule
enters the proximal convoluted tubule and continues in the loop of henle –
this is where reabsorption occurs. Reabsorption of glucose, amino acids,
vitamins, water, sodium, chloride, bicarbonate and potassium – these are
being reabsorbed for the use of the body. A capillary system – vasa recta
parallel in the loop of henle and participate in salt radient formation and
maintenance. The third important process in the formation of urine is the
secretion - it is the process by which substances move into the distal and
collecting tubules. Some wastes being excreted are ammonia, uric acid,
penicillin. The acidity of the blood is regulated and water levels are
adjusted. The waste product resulting from the process is a fluid called the
urine.
 Skin
The skin is another part of the excretory system: it
eliminates sweat, that helps cool the body and regulate
the concentration of salt. The salt helps evaporate the
water, cooling off the skin.
 Liver
• The liver is an organ of the digestive system. It also
helps in excreting wastes from the body in a variety of
processes. Laboratory analysis reveals a high
concentration of a small organelle called a
peroxisome, responsible for breakdown of several
toxic substances. It also takes in nitrogenous wastes
and converts them to urea to reduce their toxicity.
• The liver absorbs drugs and other poisonous
substances in the blood and changes their chemical
structure to make them less toxic and easier to
digest. This waste product is called bile and is
excreted to the digestive tract, facilitating digestion of
fats while also disposing of waste. it is highly
metabolically active organ.liver is also a erythropoetic
organ in newts
 Kidneys
• Kidneys
• The key organs in the excretory system of
vertebrates. (See protonephridia system for Platy
Platyhelminthes,
helminthes, metanephridia
metanephridia for Annelida,
for Annelida, or theor the
Malpighian tubes for insects and terrestrial
arthropods.) The kidneys are placed on either side
of the spinal column near the lower back. They are
primarily responsible for filtering blood by removing
nitrogenous wastes, though they also regulate blood
pressure in a process called osmoregulation and
also assist with the production of red blood cells.
 Secretion

• Secretion is the process of

producing a substance from the
cells and fluids within a gland or
organ and discharging it.
Parts Of Excretory
System
As animals perform their various metabolic processes, protein and nucleic acid,
both of which contain nitrogen, are broken down. While some of the nitrogen is
used to manufacture new nitrogen-containing molecules, much of it cannot be
used for this purpose and must be disposed of as waste. Typically, the first
nitrogen-containing molecule that forms is ammonia (NH3, which is very water-
soluble, forming NH4OH, a strong base. In some way, this ammonia must be
gotten rid of before it raises the pH of the body fluids. Because ammonia is so
water-soluble, aquatic animals often can get rid of it just by diffusion into the
surrounding water. That’s one reason why the water in your aquarium gets
“bad” and needs to be changed, and why not changing the water could kill the
fish. However, ammonia doesn’t readily go from body fluids into air, so
terrestrial animals need other ways of getting rid of nitrogenous wastes.
The two most common substances used by terrestrial animals to get rid of
excess nitrogen are urea and uric acid. Many animal species that aren’t
terribly concerned about water-loss, including humans, convert the ammonia to
urea, which is water-soluble and excreted in a water-based solution. Other
organisms such as birds, insects, or lizards, especially if they live in an arid
area, must conserve water whenever possible, thus convert the NH3 to uric
acid. Uric acid is not water-soluble, thus can be excreted with little, if any, water
with it. This is the white goo in bird droppings. While the major portion of human
nitrogenous waste is in the form of urea, humans typically excrete some uric
acid, too. Uric acid is another kind of purine like the adenine and guanine in
Gout is a disorder in which humans start to accumulate more than
the usual amount of uric acid (caused by either the body
manufacturing excess uric acid or the kidneys not excreting enough
of it) and since it’s not water-soluble, it gets stored in the body,
frequently in toe joints, causing pain and deformation of the joints
involved as well as the formation of kidney stones. Traditionally,
people who had gout were put on diets low in purines to try to help
alleviate the condition, but according to the Merck Manual, now
these people are doped up with drugs rather than given nutritional
counseling: [“Drugs are so effective in lowering the serum urate
concentration that rigid restrictions of the purine content of the diet
usually is unnecessary.”].
Typically, gout is treated with colchicine, a deadly poison (see further
notes below)! Caffeine and its relatives, theobromine (in cocoa), and
theophylline (in tea) are classified as xanthines (a subgroup within the
purines), thus it would make sense that people with gout should be
counseled to avoid coffee, tea, and chocolate.
Some insects, notably blowfly larvae (larvae of those shiny green or blue
flies) excrete their nitrogenous wastes as allantoin, another purine.
Allantoin is known to be a “cell-proliferant,” thus is used to help wounds to
heal. For hundreds of years, people have recognized that the presence of
blowfly larvae in a gangrenous wound actually helped it to heal better. From
about the turn of the century until the invention of a lot of synthetic drugs,
blowfly larvae were raised aseptically, and used to treat severe wounds.
With the increase in availability of chemicals after World War II, the use of
blowfly larvae declined, but I’ve heard of several cases lately where, for
some reason, this treatment was necessary and/or preferred over synthetic
drugs. It has been found that the fly larvae only eat dead, gangrenous
tissue, leaving the live, healthy tissue, and since their nitrogenous waste is
allantoin, that stimulates the wound to heal, usually with less scaring. In this
procedure, small, sterile larvae are introduced into the wound and, if
needed, traded for other small ones when they get big.
We excrete nitrogenous wastes via our kidneys. Our kidneys are located on either side
of the spine, just up under the bottom ribs. They are well supplied with blood via the
renal artery and renal vein. Urine made in the kidney collects in the renal pelvis within
the kidney, then flows down the ureter to the bladder where it is stored until voided.
From the bladder, the urine flows to the outside via the urethra, (which in the male also
serves as part of the reproductory tract).
The kidney is composed of an outer layer, the cortex, and an inner core, the medulla.
The kidney consists of repeating units (tubules) called nephrons. The “tops” of the
nephrons make up or are in the cortex, while their long tubule portions make up the
medulla. To the right is a diagram of an individual nephron. Each nephron has a closely
associated blood supply. Blood comes in at the glomerulus and transfers water and
solutes to the nephron at Bowman’s capsule. In the proximal tubule, water and some
“good” molecules are absorbed back into the body, while a few other, unwanted
molecules/ions are added to the urine. Then, the filtrate goes down the loop of Henle
(in the medulla) where more water is removed (back into the bloodstream) on the way
“down”, but the “up” side is impervious to water. Some NaCl (salt) is removed from the
filtrate at this point to adjust the amount in the fluid which surrounds the tubule.
Capillaries wind around and exchange materials with the tubule. In the distal tubule,
more water and some “good” solutes are removed from the urine, while some more
unwanted molecules are put in. From there, the urine flows down a collecting duct
which gathers urine from several nephrons. As the collecting duct goes back through the
medulla, more water is removed from the urine. The collecting ducts eventually end up
at the renal pelvis which collects the urine from all of them. The area where the
collecting ducts enter the renal pelvis is a common area for formation of kidney stones,
thus increasing the volume of urine
produced. These diuretic effects are one
reason why a person drinking beer
(alcohol) or coffee (caffeine) needs to
urinate more frequently.
When a person’s kidneys cease
functioning, due to illness or other causes,
renal dialysis can be used on a short-term
basis to filter the person’s blood. This is not
a perfect process; it can’t do everything a
person’s kidneys can. Typically a person is
put on renal dialysis as a temporary
measure to extend the person’s life until a
kidney transplant can be found. While life-
saving, this procedure is often very
inconvenient and stressful for the person. It
requires spending long periods of time,
several days a week, hooked up to the
dialysis machine: the person’s blood must
actually pass into the dialysis machine so
the wastes can be filtered out, and then the
blood is returned to the person’s body.
This, combined with symptoms caused by
the renal failure (the inability of the
person’s kidneys to function) often
End
 Excretory &
Urinary System
 Excretory/Urinary System

•As animals perform their various metabolic processes, protein and nucleic
acid, both of which contain nitrogen, are broken down. While some of the
nitrogen is used to manufacture new nitrogen-containing molecules, much
of it cannot be used for this purpose and must be disposed of as waste.
Typically, the first nitrogen-containing molecule that forms is ammonia
(NH3, which is very water-soluble, forming NH4OH, a strong base. In
some way, this ammonia must be gotten rid of before it raises the pH of the
body fluids. Because ammonia is so water-soluble, aquatic animals often
can get rid of it just by diffusion into the surrounding water. That’s one
reason why the water in your aquarium gets “bad” and needs to be
changed, and why not changing the water could kill the fish. However,
ammonia doesn’t readily go from body fluids into air, so terrestrial
animals need other ways of getting rid of nitrogenous wastes.
The two most common substances used by terrestrial animals to get rid
of excess nitrogen are urea and uric acid. Many animal species that
aren’t terribly concerned about water-loss, including humans, convert
the ammonia to urea, which is water-soluble and excreted in a water-
based solution. Other organisms such as birds, insects, or lizards,
especially if they live in an arid area, must conserve water whenever
possible, thus convert the NH3 to uric acid. Uric acid is not water-
soluble, thus can be excreted with little, if any, water with it. This is the
white goo in bird droppings. While the major portion of human
nitrogenous waste is in the form of urea, humans typically excrete some
uric acid, too. Uric acid is another kind of purine like the adenine and
guanine in our DNA (structure at the top).
 Gout is a disorder in which humans start to accumulate more than the
usual amount of uric acid (caused by either the body manufacturing
excess uric acid or the kidneys not excreting enough of it) and since it’s
not water-soluble, it gets stored in the body, frequently in toe joints,
causing pain and deformation of the joints involved as well as the
formation of kidney stones. Traditionally, people who had gout were put
on diets low in purines to try to help alleviate the condition, but
according to the Merck Manual, now these people are doped up with
drugs rather than given nutritional counseling: [“Drugs are so effective
in lowering the serum urate concentration that rigid restrictions of the
purine content of the diet usually is unnecessary.”]. Typically, gout is
treated with colchicine, a deadly poison (see further notes below)!
Caffeine and its relatives, theobromine (in cocoa), and theophylline (in
tea) are classified as xanthines (a subgroup within the purines), thus it
would make sense that people with gout should be counseled to avoid
coffee, tea, and chocolate.
Some insects, notably blowfly larvae (larvae of those shiny green or blue flies)
excrete their nitrogenous wastes as allantoin, another purine. Allantoin is
known to be a “cell-proliferant,” thus is used to help wounds to heal. For
hundreds of years, people have recognized that the presence of blowfly larvae
in a gangrenous wound actually helped it to heal better. From about the turn of
the century until the invention of a lot of synthetic drugs, blowfly larvae were
raised aseptically, and used to treat severe wounds. With the increase in
availability of chemicals after World War II, the use of blowfly larvae declined,
but I’ve heard of several cases lately where, for some reason, this treatment was
necessary and/or preferred over synthetic drugs. It has been found that the fly
larvae only eat dead, gangrenous tissue, leaving the live, healthy tissue, and
since their nitrogenous waste is allantoin, that stimulates the wound to heal,
usually with less scaring. In this procedure, small, sterile larvae are introduced
into the wound and, if needed, traded for other small ones when they get big.
We excrete nitrogenous wastes via our kidneys. Our kidneys are located on
either side of the spine, just up under the bottom ribs. They are well supplied
with blood via the renal artery and renal vein. Urine made in the kidney
collects in the renal pelvis within the kidney, then flows down the ureter to the
bladder where it is stored until voided. From the bladder, the urine flows to the
outside via the urethra, (which in the male also serves as part of the
 The kidney is composed of an outer layer, the cortex, and an inner core, the
medulla. The kidney consists of repeating units (tubules) called nephrons. The
“tops” of the nephrons make up or are in the cortex, while their long tubule
portions make up the medulla. To the right is a diagram of an individual nephron.
Each nephron has a closely associated blood supply. Blood comes in at the
glomerulus and transfers water and solutes to the nephron at Bowman’s capsule.
In the proximal tubule, water and some “good” molecules are absorbed back into
the body, while a few other, unwanted molecules/ions are added to the urine. Then,
the filtrate goes down the loop of Henle (in the medulla) where more water is
removed (back into the bloodstream) on the way “down”, but the “up” side is
impervious to water. Some NaCl (salt) is removed from the filtrate at this point to
adjust the amount in the fluid which surrounds the tubule. Capillaries wind around
and exchange materials with the tubule. In the distal tubule, more water and some
“good” solutes are removed from the urine, while some more unwanted molecules
are put in. From there, the urine flows down a collecting duct which gathers urine
from several nephrons. As the collecting duct goes back through the medulla, more
water is removed from the urine. The collecting ducts eventually end up at the
renal pelvis which collects the urine from all of them. The area where the
collecting ducts enter the renal pelvis is a common area for formation of kidney
stones, often giving them a “staghorn” shape.
 Antidiuretic hormone (ADH) from the pituitary is one factor influencing urine production. ADH
promotes water retention by the kidneys, and its secretion is regulated by a negative feedback loop
involving blood water and salt balances. ADH helps the kidney tubules reabsorb water to
concentrate the urine. When the blood water level is too high (when you’ve been drinking a lot of
liquids), this acts as a negative feedback to inhibit the secretion of ADH so more water is released.
Ethanol also inhibits secretion of ADH, so a person who consumes a lot of alcoholic beverages
could excrete too much water (and maybe even become dehydrated). Many diuretics work by
interfering with ADH production, thus increasing the volume of urine produced. These diuretic
effects are one reason why a person drinking beer (alcohol) or coffee (caffeine) needs to urinate
more frequently.
When a person’s kidneys cease functioning, due to illness or other causes, renal dialysis can be
used on a short-term basis to filter the person’s blood. This is not a perfect process; it can’t do
everything a person’s kidneys can. Typically a person is put on renal dialysis as a temporary
measure to extend the person’s life until a kidney transplant can be found. While life-saving, this
procedure is often very inconvenient and stressful for the person. It requires spending long periods
of time, several days a week, hooked up to the dialysis machine: the person’s blood must actually
pass into the dialysis machine so the wastes can be filtered out, and then the blood is returned to
the person’s body. This, combined with symptoms caused by the renal failure (the inability of the
person’s kidneys to function) often preclude working at a job to earn the money to pay for the
treatment. People can get by with one kidney, and the closest tissue match for a kidney transplant
is often a sibling. However, as one former student who was a kidney-transplant recipient pointed
out, even kidney transplants don’t last “forever”. Besides the constant workings of the person’s
immune system to reject this foreign tissue, whatever disease caused the problem in the first place
will probably eventually also affect the transplanted kidney. Since the same donor can’t provide
another new kidney, this may mean going back on dialysis and hoping a matching donor (accident
victim) can be found before it’s too late.
 Some diseases and disorders of the
excretory system include:
Nephritis is an inflammation of the glomeruli, due to a number of
possible causes, including things like strep throat. Symptoms include
bloody urine, scant urine output, and edema (swelling/puffliness).
Another, more severe form, is due to an autoimmune attack on the
glomeruli. Other types of nephritis affect the tubules.
Nephrosis also affects the glomeruli, and is characterized by excretion
of abnormally large amounts of protein (often causing “foamy” urine)
and generalized edema (water retension/swelling) throughout the whole
body, especially noted as “puffy” eyelids. Because these people’s
kidneys often do not handle sodium properly, a low-salt diet is usually
prescribed. My younger brother developed nephrosis at age 4, and to
control it, had to stay on a no-added-salt diet and take prednisone on a
regular basis from then until age 16, at which point, his body finally
responded positively to being weaned off the drug.
• Most urinary tract infections (UTIs) are caused by Gram negative bacteria
such as E. coli. If there is an obstruction of the urethra, catheterization may
be needed, but as a general rule, catheterization in cases of UTI is
contraindicated because it can actually introduce pathogens and make the
infection worse. Women tend to acquire more urethral and bladder
infections than men, perhaps because the opening of the urethra is closer to
the anus. The way a woman cleans the area after relieving herself can
influence her chances of contracting a UTI and/or vaginal infection. When
parents are toilet-training toddlers, the common mistake is to wipe young
girls from back to front. The toddlers get used to this feeling, and when they
start to wipe themselves, they also go from back to front. This technique
wipes bacteria from the anal area towards or into the ends of the vagina and
urethra. Rather, young girls should be trained to wipe from front to back,
and women who were not trained this way should make a conscious effort
to change their habits.
• There are a variety of types of kidney stones depending on what conditions
caused their formation. According to the Merck Manual, in the United
States, about 80% are calcium oxalate (and/or other calcium-based stones),
5% are uric acid, 2% are cystine, and the other 13% due to magnesium
ammonium phosphate or other causes. Stones may be microscopic to large
“staghorn” stones that fill the whole renal pelvis. Often, as the stone is
passed down the ureter, the person experiences much pain, and the
affected kidney may even temporarily become nonfunctional. Stones may
be broken up by ultrasound so they can be passed more easily, but large
stones may have to be surgically removed. If possible, the underlying cause
of the stone(s) should be identified and alleviated. For example, calcium
stones might be caused by anything from a parathyroid gland problem to too
much vitamin D to some forms of cancer to a genetic predisposition.
End of presentation

By;
Chinky Jhoy M.
Agustin
&