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Learn about the excretory system, its purpose in maintaining homeostasis, organs involved, nephron function, and treatment options for kidney diseases like dialysis and transplant. Discover fascinating facts and processes of waste elimination!
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Fun Fact: Though you have 2 kidneys, you can survive with 1 with no loss of life expantancy
Excretory System • Purpose: Body system that eliminates (or excretes) nonsolid wastes through sweat, urine and exhalation to help maintain homeostasis in the body • What’s homeostasis?
Homeostasis • Maintaining a stable internal environment
Waste Products • Toxic Materials • Excess Water • Salts • Carbon Dioxide • Minerals • Vitamins • Urea (nitrogen-based)
Excretory System Organs • Lungs • Skin • Kidneys • Ureter • Urinary Bladder • Urethra
Lungs • Excrete excess carbon dioxide and water vapor through exhalation • What’s happening to the diaphragm when we exhale?
Skin • Contains sweat glands that release excess water and salts, and help keep the body cool (homeostasis!)
Ureter • Tube that carries urine from each kidney to the bladder
Urinary Bladder • Saclike organ that can store half a liter of urine at a time
Urethra • Single tube that releases urine into the outside environment
Kidneys • Organs that eliminate wastes by filtering and cleaning the blood to produce urine • Kidneys maintain homeostasis by: • Removing waste products from blood • Maintaining electrolyte, pH and fluid balances • Releasing hormones that do things such as regulating blood pressure
Nephron • An individual filtering unit of the kidney found in the cortex • Guess how many each kidney has.
Nephron • Our kidneys have 1 million nephrons!!!
Nephrons • Clean the blood in 3 steps: • Filtration • Reabsorption of Materials • Excretion of Materials
Filtration • Theglomerulus is a tangled ball of capillaries • When blood enters the glomerulus, the pressure causes small molecules to be pushed out into Bowman’s capsule • Water • Amino Acids • Salts • Glucose • Electrolytes • Urea
Reabsorption of Materials • Materials in Bowman’s Capsule are called filtrate • Nephrons process 180 liters of filtrate a day = too much! • 99% of filtrate gets reabsorbed in the collecting duct as needed to ensure nutrient levels are stable
Excretion of Materials • The Loop of Henlereabsorbs water for the last time to reduce the volume of urine • The remaining liquid is urine that leaves through the ureter
Diabetes • Read the article about diabetes
Kidney Disease • Loss of function in one or both kidneys • Two treatment options: • Dialysis • Transplant
Dialysis • Patients are attached to a machine that runs all of their blood through a semi-permeable membrane • A special fluid called dialysate is on the other side of the membrane, and diffusion allows for wastes to flow out of the blood • This process replicates kidney function
Transplant • Patients can receive kidneys from living donors (usually relatives) or nonliving donors that recently passed away • Donors and receivers must be the same blood type • If you only have 1 kidney, the other will do the work of both with little problem