EXCRETION

 Excretion are the process by which such toxic products are removed from the body before they can
accumulate to harmful levels.

 IN PLANTS : in plants waste products are very small which generally leave by diffusion. In certain plants
solid waste products – tannins, alkaloids like quinine and morphine- are stored in leaf, fruits and removed
when these fall off.

 IN ANIMALS: the main excretory products in animals are carbon dioxide and water produced as end-
products of respiration and nitrogenous compounds from the breakdown of amino acids. The products of
amino acid breakdown are ammonia and other nitrogen-containing compounds which could, if allowed to
accumulate in the body, cause death in a matter of days or weeks. The liver converts these into urea and uric
acid, which are less poisonous. \

 In man and other mammals the excretory products of the body’s cell pass into the tissue fluid surrounding
them and thence into the blood, which carriers them to excretory organs, the lungs , the liver and the
kidneys. The kidneys remove nitrogenous material and excess mineral salts and water from the blood and
eliminate them in the urine.

 Although it is usual to think of the kidneys’ function being primarily one of nitrogenous excretion, it is quite
common to find that in aquatic animals the kidneys are hardly used for this purpose. In these animals the
tubules are primarily concerned in regulating the salt and water levels in the body, nitrogenous wastes being
eliminated by diffusion through any permeable surface. In fresh water all animals have osmotic pressure than
the environment. Water tends to enter the body and salts tend to leave. Fresh water animals produce large
quantities of very dilute urine, filtering off a lot of blood plasma into the tubules but reabsorbing all wanted
materials including the invaluable salts. Fresh water crustacea, molluscs and fish all posses tubules of
different morphology which show very similar functional properties.
THE KIDNEY:
structure : the two kidneys are fairly solid structures attached to the back of the abdominal cavity. They are oval in shape,
with an indentation on their innermost sides, and red-brown in color. Each kidney weighs about 250 gm, and is enclosed in a
transparent membrane. A tube, the ureter runs from each kidney to the base of the bladder in the lower abdomen.
 HOW THE KIDNEYS PRODUCE URINE
 Human kidneys consist of three layers. These layers are, in
order, the cortex on the outside of the organ, the medulla,
and the pelvis . Blood flows into the medulla through the
renal artery. In the medulla and cortex, the renal artery
branches into increasingly smaller arteries. Each of these
arteries ends in a blood filtration unit called nephron. Two
healthy kidneys contain a total of about 2 million
nephrons, which filter about 190 litres of blood daily.
 A nephron consists of a network of tiny blood vessels, the
glomerulus, surrounded by Bowman’s capsule, a two layer
membrane that opens into a convoluted tubule. Pressure
forces much of the blood plasma( fluid portion of the
blood) through the glomerulus and into Bowman’s capsule
. The resulti8ing tubular fluid, which contain water and
dissolved chemicals, then passes into the convoluted
tubule. The portion of the blood that remains in the
glomerulus flows into small vessels called capillaries,
which surround the convoluted tubule. As the tubular
fluid flows through the tubule, substances needed by the
body are absorbed by the cells of the tubule wall. These
substances, which include amino acids, glucose and about
99 % of the water, then rejoin the blood in the capillaries.
The capillaries return the blood to the heart by way of the
renal vein.
 Substances not absorbed in the tubule are wastes that the
body cannot use. Other wastes are secreted into the tubular
fluid by the tubular cells of the kidney. These various
substances, which include ammonia, urea, uric acid and
excess water, make up urine. The urine passes from the
convoluted tubules into larger collecting tubules and then
into the pelvis layer of the kidney. A tube called the ureter
carries urine from each kidney into the urinary bladder.
Urine collects in the bladder until it passes out of the body
through another tube, the urethra. Healthy kidneys
produce from 1 to 2 litres if urine daily .
OSMOREGULATION

 Different environment condition impose different demands on the osmotic and ionic regulating machinery. I
 In very dry conditions, such as in deserts , it is obviously of advantage to reabsorb as much water from the
tubule as possible.
 All animals do this but only birds and mammals have discovered the secret of so concentrating the urine that
its salt concentration is higher than the blood than that in the blood. This is done be means of a hairpin-like
loop in the tubule called the loop of Henle, an example of a counter current device. Its active secretion and
selective permeabilities result in a high salt concentration in the interstitial fluid of the medulla. Water is drawn
back into the medulla osmotically from the collecting ducts if these are made permeable by antidiuretic
hormone (ADH).
 Changes are the concentration of the blood are detected by the hypothalamus part of the brain. If the blood
passing through the brain is too concentrated, the hypothalamus stimulates the pituitary gland which lies just
beneath it , to secrets ADH .
 The intake of water by the blood is controlled b y the sensation of thirst, which stimulates the individual to
take in fluid . The mechanism producing feelings of thirst is not well understood.