5.2 Excretion as an example of homeostasis control Flashcards
What is excretion?
The emoval of metabolic waste from thr body.
What is metabolic waste?
A substance that is produced in excess by the body by a metabolic activity. It may become toxic.
Why must sbstances be excreted?
So they do not build up and inhibit enzyme activity or become toxic.
What are the 3 main excretory products?
- Carbon dioxide from respiration.
- Nitrogen-compounds, such as urea (i.e. nitogenous waste)
- Other compounds, such as bile pigments found in feases.
What is the differnence between excretion and egestion?
Egestion is the elimination of feases from the body. Feases are undigested remains of food and are not metabolic products.
What are the main organs involoved in excretion?
- The lungs
- The liver
- The kidneys
- The skin
- The ureter
- The bladder
- The uretha
How are the lungs a excretory organ?
Every living cell in the body produces carbon dioxide as a result of respiration. Carbon dioxide passes in to the blood stream, where is it transported to the lungs. In the lungs the csrbon dioxide diffuses into the avioli to be excreted as you breath out.
How is the liver an exretory organ?
It has many metabolic roles and some of the products will be passes ino bile for excretion with the feases, for example, the pigment bilirubin.
The liver also converts excess amino acids into urea, they’re broken down by daemination. The nitogen-containing part of he molecule is combines with carbon dioxide to make urea.
How are the kidneys an excretory organ?
The urea is passed into the bloodstream to be transported to the kidneys. Urea is transported in solution- dissolved in plasma. In the kidneys the urea is removed from the blood to become a part of urine. Urine is stored in the bladder before being excreted from the body via the uretha.
How is the skin an excretory organ?
Sweat contains a rangex of substances including salts, urea, water, uric acid and ammonia. Urea, uric acid and ammonia are all excretory products.
What happens is products of metabolism build up?
They can interfer with cell processes by altering the pH, so the the normal metabolism is prevented. Other metabolic products may act as inhibitors and reduce the activity of essential enzymes.
How is carbon dioxide mosty transported in the blood?
Hydrogencarbonate ions.
How are hydrogencarbonate ions formed?
Carbon dioxide + water = carbonic acid, then the carbon acid dissociates to release hydrogen ions and hydrogenvcarbonate ions. This occurs in the red blood cells, under the infuence the the enzyme carbonic anahydrase.
During the formation of hydrogencarbonate ions, how does hydrogen ions affect the red blood cells?
They affect the pH of the cytoplasm in the red blood cells. The hydrogen ions interact with the binds within heamoglobin, changing the 3-dimential shape, reducing the affinity of haemoglobin for oxygen, affecting oxygen transport.
The hydrogen ions can combine with heamoglobin, forming haemoglobinic acid. The carbon dioxide that wasn’t converted to hydrogencarbonate ions can combine with heamoglobin forming carbaminohaemoglobin, both haemoglobonic acid and carbaminohaemoglobin are unaable to combine with oxygen, reducing oxygen transport further.
During the formation of hydrogencarbonate ions, how can excess hydrogen ions affect the blood plasma?
They can reduce the pH, which could alter the structure of many proteins in the blood that help transport a wide range of substances around the body. Proteins in the blood act as buffers to resist the change in pH.
What happens if a small change in pH caused by extra hydrogen ions is detected in the body?
Extra hydrogen ions are detected by the respirtory centre in the medulla oblongata of the brain. Causing an increase in the breathing rate to help remove excess carbon dioxide.
What happens if the body detects a larger change in it’s pH caused by extra hydrogen ions?
If pH drops below 7.35, it may cause headaches, drowiness, restlessness, tremor and confusion. There also may be a rapid heart rate and changesin blood pressure. This is respiratory acidosis.
What is repiratory acidosis?
If blodd pH drops below 7.35, it may cause headaches, drowiness, restlessness, tremor and confusion. There also may be a rapid heart rate and changesin blood pressure.
What is respiratory acidosis caused by?
It can be caused by disease or conditions that affect the lings, such as emphsyma, chronic bronchitis, asthma or sevre pneumonia. Blockages of the airways due to swelling, a foreign object, or volmit can also cause respiratory acidosis.
What is it called when the potentially toxic amino acid group is removed in the liver?
Deamination
What toxic chemical can excsee amino acids form?
Ammonia.
What less toxic compound is ammonia coverted to in the liver?
Urea
Where is urea transported to from the liver? Why?
It is transported to the kidneys fpr excretion
What happens to the remaining amino acids after ammonia has been removed?
The remaining keto acid can be used directly in respiration to release its energy or it may be converted to a carbohydrate or fat for storage.
Equation for deamination?
Amino acid + Oxygen = Keto acid + Ammonia
Equation for the formation of urea?
Ammonia + Carbon dioxide = Urea + Water
What are liver cells called?
Hepatocytes.
What is the function of the liver?
To remove excess or unwanted substances from the blood and return substances to the blood to ensure concentrations are maintained.
What does the internal structure of the liver ensure?
It ensures that as much blood flows past as many liver cells as possible.
What are the 2 blood vessels that supply the liver with blood?
- The hepatic artery
- The hepatic portal vein
What is the role of the hepatic artery?
Oxygenated blood from the heart travels from the aorta via the hapetic artery. This supplies the liver with oxygen for aerobic repiration- they need lots so they carry out a lot of metabolic processes.
What is the role of the hepatic portal vein?
The blood is rich in products of digestion. The concentrations of substances will be uncontrolled as they have just entered the body from digestion in the intestines. The blood may also contain toxic compounds. It is important these substances dont circulate the body before the concetrations have been adjusted.
What path does bloof take to the heptic portal vein?
Deoxygenated blood from the digestive system enters the liver via the heptic portal vein.
What blood vessel leaves the liver?
The heptic vein.
What happens to blood travelling in the heptic vein?
The heptic vein rejoins the vena cava and the blood returns to the body’s normal circulation.
What vessel is connected to the liver that isn’t a blood vessel?
The bile duct.
What is bile?
Bile is a sectretion from the liver which has functions in digestion and excretion. It also contains some excretory products such as bile pigments like bilirubin, which leaves the body in feases.
What is the role of the bile duct?
The bile duct carries bile from the liver to the gall bladder, where it is stored until required to aid the digestion of fats in the small intestine.
How is the structure of the liver specialised so that blood has maximum contact with the liver cells?
The liver is divided into lobes which are further divided into lobules.
What is this part of the liver?
Hepatocytes- liver cells with lots of microvilli
What is this part of the liver?
Inter-lobular vessels.
What is this bit of the liver?
Intra-lobular vessels.
What is this bit of the liver?
Kupffer cell- specialised macrophage that breaks down and recycles old red blood cells.
What is this bit of the liver?
A sinusoid-the sinusoid is in close contact to the liver cells.
What is the role of hepatacytes?
They remove substances from the blood and return other substances to the blood.
When Kupffer cells breakdown red blood cells, what is one of the primary products?
One of the products of heamoglobin break down is bilirubin, which is one of the bile pigments excreted as part of the bile.
What happens to bile produced in the liver?
Bile is released into bile canaliculi. The bile canaliculi join together to form the bile duct, which transports bile to the gall bladder.
What is the structure of a hepatocyte?
They have a cuboid shape with many microvilli on their surface. Their cytoplasm is very dense and is specialised in the number of organells it contains.
What are the metabolic functions of hepatocytes?
- Protein sythesis
- Transforming and storage of carbohydrates
- Synthesis of cholesterol and bile salts
- Detoxification
What metabolic functions does the liver carry out?
- Control of blood glucose levels, amino acids, lipid levels
- Synthesis of bile, plasma proteins, cholesterol
- Sythesis of red bloof cells in the fetus
- Storage of vitamins A, D and B12, iron and glycogen
- Detoxification of alcohol, drugs
- Breakdown oof hormones
- Destruction of red blood cells
What is the orithine cycle?
A series of biovhemical reactions that convert ammonia to urea.
How is glycogen stored in the liver?
Sugar is stored as glucogen. The glycogen forms granules in the cytoplasm of the hepatocytes- this can be broken down to release glucose into the blood.
How much glycogen can the liver store?
It’s able to store about 100-120g of glycogen, which makes up about 8% of the fresh weights of the liver.
What substances may be detoxified in the liver?
- Hygrogen peroxide
- Alcohol
By what process can toxins be rendered harmless?
- Oxidation
- Reduction
- Methylation
- Combination with another molecule
What does the liver contain what renders toxins harmless?
It contains enzymes inculuding:
* Catalase- converting hydrogen peroxide to oxygen and water.
* Cytochrome P450- a group of enzymes used to break down drugs. They are also used in other metabolic reactions such as electron transport during respiration.