Excretion 5.2 Flashcards
Define excretion
Excretion is the removal of metabolic waste from the body
What are the main 3 excretory products from the body?
The main excretory products are:
- carbon dioxide fro respiration
- nitrogenous waste like urea
- other compounds like bile pigments
What are the 4 excretory organs?
Excretory organs:
- lungs
- liver
- kidneys
- skin
How are the lungs an excretory organ?
In the lungs carbon dioxide diffuses into the alveoli to be excreted as you breathe pout.
What is the path of carbon dioxide to reach the lungs?
Carbon dioxide passed from respiring cells into the bloodstream then transported as hydorgen carbonate ions to the lungs
how is the liver an excretory organ?
The liver has many metabolic processes and some of these substances produced will be passed into the bile for excretion with faeces.
It is also involved in converting amino acids to urea by deamination
How is urea made from deamination?
The nitrogen containing part of the amino acid is combined with carbon dioxide to make urea
How are the kidneys an excretory organ?
In the kidneys urea is removed from the blood to become past of urine.
How is urea transported?
Urea is transported in solution dissolved in the plasma
How is the skin an excretory organ?
The skin sweats and sweat contains urea, uric acid and ammonia which are all excretory products.
What things may sweat contain other than excretory products? Why?
Other than the excretory products of uric acid urea and ammonia the sweat also contains water ans salts, important in homeostasis maintaining temperature and water potential of the body
Why is excretion important?
Allowing the build up of metabolic products may be fatal as carbon dioxide and ammonia are toxic
Why is the build up of metabolic products an issue? What can they cause?
Metabolic products can interfere with cell processes by altering pH preventing normal metabolism or may act as inhibitors reducing the activity of essential enzymes
What happens to excess amino acids and why
The body cannot store excess amino acids but they contain almost as much energy as carbohydrates so it would be wasteful to simply excrete them. They get deaminated in the liver
Discuss deamination
Deamination is the process of removing he potentially toxic amino group fom the amino acid. It forms a soluble toxic ammonia and a keto acid
amino acid + oxygen —- keto acid + ammonia
How and why is urea formed after deamination?
Ammomnia is toxic so must be tuned into urea as urea is less soluble and less toxic and the urea can be excreted in the urine from the kidneys
ammonia + carbon dioxide — urea + water
Give the symbols for ammonia and urea
Ammonia = NH3 Urea = (NH2)2CO
What happens to the keto acid produced in deamination?
The remaining keto acid can be used directly in respiration to release its energy or converted to carbohydrate or fat for storage
What is egestion?
Egestion is the elimination of faeces from the body and faeces is not metabolic products but remains of food
How is most of the CO2 in the body transported?
Most of CO2 in the body is transported as hydrocarbonate ions
What are the 2 processes to produce hydrogencarbonate ions?
CO2 + H2O — H2CO3 (carbonic acid)
H2CO3 — H+ + HCO3-
What is the chemical symbols for hydorgencarbonate ions and carbonic acid?
Hydrogencarbonate ions = HCO3-
Carbonic acid = H2CO3
How do you describe how carbonic acid becomes H+?
Carbonic acud disaociates into H+
Where does carbonic acid dissociate and what enzyme helps?
Carbonic acid dissociates in the red blood cells under the influence of carbonic anhydrase OR in the blood plasma
Describe what happens when hydrogen ions affect red blood cells?
Hydrogen ions affect the pH of cytoplasm is red blood cells:
- H+ interact with bonds in haemoglobin changing its 3D shape
- reduces haemoglobin’s affinity for oxygen
- hydrogen ions combine with haemoglobin to make haemoglobinic acid
What can the carbon dioxide that does not form hydorgencarbonate ions do?
The carbon ndioxide that does not form hydogen carbonate ions combines directly with haemoglobinic acid to make carbaminohaemoglobin
What is another negative consequence of haemoglobinic acid and carbaminohaemoglobin?
Both haemoglobinic acid and carbaminohaemoglobin are unable to combine with oxygen as normal, reducing the oxygen transport further
What happens if the hydrogen ions are in the blood plasma?
Hydorgen ions an reduce blood plasma pH ands mainti g this pH is essential becuase changes could alter the structure of proteins in the blood that help transport a wide range of substances around the body.
How is hydrogen ions in the blood plasma combated?
There are proteins in the blood plasma to act as buffers to resist the changes in pH
If the change in pH is small what happens?
Id the pH change is amll then the hydrogen ions are detected in the respiraoty centre in the medukla oblongata. Breathing rate is inceased to remove carbon dioxide
What if the change in pH is large?
If blood pH drops below 7.35:
- headaches, drowsiness, relestness, tremort and confusion,.
- Heart rate increases and blood pressure changes (respiraptry acidosis)
What is respiratory acidoosis and what may cause it?
Respiratory acidosis is wher blodo pH drops below 7.35 and aucases rapid heart rate and blood pressure changes.
it is caused dby dieases or coindition affecrting the lungs or blockage of the airways
What are loiver cells called?
The liver cells are caled hepatocytes
What are the 2 sources of blood to the liver? vessels?
- Hepatic artery brings oxygenated blood from the heart to the liver in order for ti to be able to aerobically respire
- hepatic portal vein brings deoxygenated dirty blood from the digestive system. This blood is rich in the products of digestion and possibly toxic substances absorbed fro the intestine
What are the 4 vessels connected to the liver?
Vessels to the liver:
- Hepatic artery (heart)
- Hepatic portal vein (digestive system)
- Hepatic vein (to vena cava
- Bile duct
Discuss the bile duct
The bile duct carries bile from the liver to the gall bladder. Lots of bile canaliculi join together to form the bile duct.
What is bile and what does it do?
Bile is released from the gall bladder into the small intestine to aid digestion of fats.
Bile is a secretion from the liver, a prodcut of heamoglobin nbreakdown by kupffer cells, contains some excretory products like bilirubin (a bile pigments) which leaves the body with faeces
What is bilirubin and how does it leave the body?
Bilirubin is a bile pigment found in bile that gets egested with faeces
What are interlobular vessels?
Interlobular veseels run parallel and in between lobules. They are where the hepatic artery and hepatic portal vein split into smaller vessels.
What are intralobular vessels?
Intralobular vessels are branches of the hepatic vein at the centre of each lobule. The sinusoids empty into this vessel.
What are two structural things about hepatocytes?
Hepatocytes have a simple cuboidal shape and have microvilli on their surface
What is the cytoplasm of hepatocytes like and why
Hepatocytes have a dense cytoplasm and specialised in the number of organelles that it contains . This is because they have many metabolic functions
How is the liver divided?
The liver is divided into lobes which are further divided into lobules
Briefly discuss the journey of blood through sections of the liver
- Interlobular vessels
- blood from heaptic artery and portal vein mix
- mixed blood passes along sinusoids
- substances removed from blood by liver cells in sinusoids
- kupffer cells break down and recycle old blood cells
- blood reaches end of sinusoid
- blood empties into the intralobular vessel
- gets into hepatic vein then back to vena cava
What do Kupffer cells do?
Kupffer cells are specialised macrophages what move within the sinusoids. They breakdown and recycle old red blood cells
What do Kupffer cells produce as a product?
Kupffer cells breakdown of haemoglobin produces bilirubin, a bile pigment
What is a sinusoid?
A sinusoid is a special chamber lined with liver cells that the mixed hepatic artery blood and hepatic portal vein blood passes through.
What do the liver cells in the sinusoids do?
The liver cells remove substance from the blood and return different substances back to the blood.
When we say ‘mixed blood’ what does this mean?
Blood from hepatic artery and hepatic portal vein mixing together in the sinusoids
What shape are the lobules?
Lobules are cyclindrical
What are bile canaliculi?
Bile canaliculi are small vessels which join together to form the bile duct
List 6 functions of the liver
The functions of the liver:
- control of blood glucose levels, amino acid levels and lipid levels
- Synthesis of bile, plasma proteins, cholesterol and red blood cells in the fetus
- strorage of vitamins A, D, B12, iron and glycogen
- detoxification of alcohol and drugs
- breakdown of hormones
- destruction of red blood cells
Discuss the libvers storage of glycogen
The liver stores sugar in the form of glycogen. Approx 100-120 grams of glycogen making up 8% of liver weight
It forms granules in the cytoplasm of hepatocytes
The glycogen can be broken down to release glucose into blood as required
What are the 4 ways a toxin can be rendered harmless?
To render a toxin harmless you can ;
- oxidation
- reduction
- methylation
- combination with another molecule
What are two enzymes the liver contains for detoxification?
- catalase
- cytochrome p450
What does catalse do?
Catalase converts hydrogen peroxide to oxygen and water. It has a very high turnover rate (number of hydrogen peroxide molecules it can render harmless in one second)