Urinary system
What is the Urinary System?
• Urinary system is an excretory system for
urine and the other wastes.
• It extracts wastes from the bloodstream,
converts them to urine, then transports and
eliminates it.
Organs of the Urinary system
• Kidneys – paired
• Ureters – paired
• Bladder – single
• Urethra - single
The kidneys
• The kidneys are bean-shaped organs located at the
back of the abdominal cavity. Or retroperitoneal
cavity.
• The KIDNEYS are found approximately 2 inches from
the vertebral column (3 fingerbreadths lateral).
• The right kidney is LOWER than the left.
• The superior edge of the left kidney is at T12. The
inferior edge of the right is at L3.
• They are moveable during breathing. They move
approximately I inch in either direction.
Regions of the Kidney
· Three regions of kidneys
1. Renal cortex – outer region, forms an outer shell
· Renal columns – extensions of cortex- material inward
2. Renal medulla – inside the cortex, contains medullary
(renal) pyramids
· Medullary pyramids – triangular regions of tissue in the
medulla, appear striated
3. Renal pelvis – inner collecting tube, divides into major and
minor calyces
· Calyces – cup-shaped structures enclosing the tips of the
pyramids that collect and funnel urine towards the renal
pelvis
The major functions of the kidneys
• To the elimination of wastes/Excretion; urea, creatinine, drugs
• Regulation of total body water balance.
• Control of the chemical composition of the blood and other
body fluid.
• Control of acid base balance
• Control of the internal environment
• Filter 200 liters of blood daily, allowing toxins, metabolic
wastes, and excess ions to leave the body in urine
• Hormonal production
• Metabolism
The Nephron
• The structural and functional units of the kidneys
• The nephron consists of a cup-shaped capsule
containing capillaries and the glomerulus, and a
long renal tube.
• Each nephron is an independent urine-forming
unit.
• Each kidney contains approximately one million
nephrons
cont……
The nephron has three functions:
• Glomerular filtration of water and solutes
from the blood.
• Tubular reabsorption of water and conserved
molecules back into the blood.
• Tubular secretion of ions and other waste
products from surrounding capillaries into the
distal tubule.
Types of Nephrons
· Cortical nephrons
· Located entirely in the cortex
· Includes most nephrons
· Juxtamedullary nephrons
· Found at the boundary of the cortex and
medulla and their LOH dip deep into the
medulla.
How do the nephrons work?
1. The outermost layer of the kidneys, the cortex, is
composed of approximately 1,250,000 structural
units called nephrons. Blood is carried to the
kidneys by the renal arteries, which branch into
smaller arteries inside the cortex and then lead to
clusters of capillaries called glomeruli.
2. Each glomerulus is surrounded by a "C"-shaped
structure called the Bowman's Capsule. It is here
that materials such as urea, salts, water, glucose,
& others pass from the blood into the nephron.
3. These materials (referred to as the "filtrate") pass through
the loop of Henle. As the filtrate travels through the loop
of Henle, useful substances are reabsorbed into the
surrounding capillaries (which connect to veins that will
transport the "clean" blood back to the heart via the renal
vein).
4. About 180 liters of filtrate is produced each day, but only
1.5 liters of urine. So as you can see, most materials that
initially enter the nephron are reabsorbed, leaving only
the urea, salts, & some water in the tubule. These
metabolic wastes form urine, which is transported to the
renal pelvis by the collecting tubule.
1. Renal Vein
2. Renal Artery
3. Renal Calyx
Medullary
4.
Pyramid
5. Renal Cortex
Segmental
6.
Artery
Interlobar
7.
Artery
Arcuate
8.
Artery
9. Arcuate Vein
Interlobar
10.
Vein
Segmental
11.
Vein
Renal
12.
Column
Renal
13.
Papillae
14. Renal Pelvis
15. Ureter
Ureters
• It’s a tube Attached to each kidney.
• It is a narrow, muscular tube about 11 inches
in length and 3/8 inch in diameter.
• Carry urine from the kidneys to the bladder.
• Begin as a continuation of the RENAL PELVIS in
the kidney.
Urinary bladder
• Urinary bladder is a hollow, muscular organ that collects
urine from the ureters and store until it is excreted.
• When empty, the bladder collapses into a pyramid
shape.
• As urine accumulates, the walls distend and stretch.
There is no increase in internal pressure until there is
about 300mL of accumulated urine.
• A full bladder holds about 500mL of urine
• The bladder has an inner mucous layer, an outside
fibrous layer, and two inner muscle layers.
APEX
TRIGONE
NECK
The urethra
• Thin-walled tube that carries urine from the bladder
to the outside of the body by peristalsis.
• Release of urine is controlled by two sphincters
• The urethra extends from the bladder to the outside
opening of the body called the urinary meatus.
• The urethra is about 7.8” inches long in the male, and
transports both urine and semen. It is only about 1.2”
inches long in the female and transports only urine.
• In females it opens between birth canal and clitoris
• in male it pass through prostate, membranous portion
and open at the tip of penis
Micturition (Voiding)
• Both sphincter muscles must open to allow voiding
• The internal urethral sphincter is relaxed after
stretching of the bladder ~200mL
• Activation is from an impulse sent to the spinal cord
and then back via the pelvic nerves
• The external urethral sphincter must be voluntarily
relaxed
• Incontinence-inability to control micturition
• Retention-inability to micturate
• Composition of urine varies depending on the diet,
exercise, water consumption and other factors.
• However, it is composed of mainly water, urea,
chloride, potassium, sodium, creatinine, phosphate,
sulfates and uric acid. Proteins, glucose,
• casts (decomposed blood) and calculi from minerals are
abnormal if present in urine.
