Module 5 - Homeostasis and Excretion Flashcards
What is excretion?
The removal of metabolic waste products from the body e.g. urea, urine and Carbon dioxide.
What are the 3 main metabolic waste products in mammals?
- Carbon dioxide
- Bile pigments
- Nitrogenous waste products (urea)
Where is Carbon Dioxide produced as metabolic waste?
It is a product of respiration which is excreted from the lungs.
Where are bile pigments produced as metabolic waste?
Formed from the breakdown of haemoglobin from old red blood cells in the liver. They are excreted from the liver into the small intestine via the gall bladder and bile duct. They colour faeces.
Where is Nitrogenous waste products (urea) produced as a waste product?
Formed from the breakdown of excess amino acids by the liver. All mammals produce urea as their nitrogenous waste. Fish produce ammonia while birds and insects produce Uris acid. Urea is excreted by the kidneys in the urine.
What are the roles of the liver?
- Involved in homeostasis
- stores glycogen
- can form less toxic substances for, highly toxic substances in the body (detoxification)
- assimilation, maintaining levels in blood.
- process nutrients absorbed from the small intestine
- secretes bile into small intestine
- rich in blood supply
- carbohydrate metabolism
- Deamination (breakdown) of amino acids
What is another word for a liver cell?
Hepatocyte
Describe 3 features of a hepatocyte
- Large nucleus
- Prominent Golgi apparatus
- Lots of mitochondria (metabolically active)
Describe the rate of replication of a hepatocyte?
Can regenerate very quickly
Where does blood arrive into the liver from? (in what proportion)
- Hepatic portal vein (75% of blood supply + assimilates)
- Hepatic artery (25%)
Where does the hepatic portal vein travel from?
Travels from stomach, small intestine and spleen
Where does the hepatic artery travel from?
From heart
What is the difference between the hepatic portal vein and the hepatic artery?
Hepatic portal vein contains assimilates whereas the hepatic artery doesn’t.
What is a sinusoid?
Area where blood from the hepatic portal vein and hepatic artery mix - this takes place in order to increase oxygen content.
What is the role of Kuppfer cells?
- Protect against disease (act as macrophages)
Where are Kuppfer cells located?
Located in Sinusoids
What travels to the gall bladder that is produced by hepatocytes?
Bile carried in a bile canaliculus
What type of blood does the hepatic portal vein and hepatic artery deliver to the liver?
Oxygenated blood
Describe how the body responds to an increase in blood glucose levels?
- Increase in blood glucose levels
- Insulin is released from the pancreas
- Glucose is converted to glycogen
- Blood glucose levels return to homeostatic levels
Describe how the body responds to a decrease in blood glucose levels?
- Decrease in blood glucose levels
- Glucagon is released from the pancreas
- Glycogen is converted back to glucose
- Blood glucose levels return to homeostatic levels
Where can glycogen be stored?
In hepatocytes, in the liver
What two processes take place in the liver?
- Deamination
- The Ornithine cycle
What is deamination?
Amino acids cannot be stored. Excess Amino Acids are Deaminated in the liver. The removal of the amine group
Describe the word formula of deamination
Amino Acid + Oxygen ——> ammonia + keto acid
Describe what happens to amino acids during deamination
- Enzyme causes removal of the amine group along with the hydrogen.
- Simultaneous oxidation of the remainder of the molecule.
What are the 2 products of deamination?
- Ammonia
- Keto acid
What is ammonia (include chemical formula)
Highly toxic and highly soluble substance
- NH3
Where can keto acid be used?
Used in respiration
Describe the formula of an amino acid
R
I
NH2 — —-C—- —COOH
I
H
What is the chemical formula of ammonia?
NH3
What is the chemical formula of keto acid?
R
I
C - COOH
II
O
What is the Ornithine cycle?
The production of urea from ammonia.
- Ammonia is highly toxic and soluble and can damage the brain if it accumulates. Therefore it is converted to urea and transported to the kidney for excretion in the urine.
Describe the word equation for the Ornithine Cycle.
Ammonia + Carbon dioxide —> Urea + water
Describe the chemical formula for the Ornithine cycle
2NH3 + CO2 —> CO(NH2)2 + H2O
Describe the role of Ornithine in the ornithine cycle
- Ornithine is present
- Ammonia and CO2 is added to Ornithine making citrulline.
- Urea is then removed forming arginine.
- Water is then removed forming Ornithine
What is detoxification?
The breakdown of toxins produced in the body, which may be produced as a result of metabolic activity.
What are examples of toxins that people choose to put in their bodies?
- Alcohol
- Other drugs
What is an example of a breakdown of a toxin?
- The breakdown of hydrogen peroxide, a by-product of metabolic activity.
- This takes place as hepatocytes contain the enzyme catalase, that splits hydrogen peroxide into oxygen and water.
What is homeostasis?
Maintaining optimum internal conditions, despite changes in the external environment.
What does Homeostasis control?
- Body temperature
- Composition of blood (e.g. glucose, concentration of minerals & ions).
- pH levels
- urea & CO2 - being expelled from the body
Describe the process of a positive feedback.
Change detected. <-
I I
I I
I I
Response reinforces change I
I I
I I
I I
Conditions change ————— I
What are examples of positive feedback cycles?
- Hypothermia
- Child birth (hormone called ‘oxytocin’ released causing contraction, building up faster and faster until contractions are fast for the birth to take place
Describe the negative feedback cycle?
Ideal conditions - increase detected - responses lower levels - ideal conditions restored
Ideal conditions - decrease detected - responses raise levels - ideal conditions restored
What are examples of negative feedback cycles?
- Blood glucose levels
- Body temperature
What is an endotherm
Animals that maintain a fairly stable internal body temperature through primary internal physiological mechanisms (birds mammals)
What is an ectotherm?
Animals that rely on heat sources outside their body to regulate temperature (fish, amphibians, reptiles, invertebrates).
What types of animals are endotherms?
Birds and mammals
What types of animals are ectotherms?
Fish, amphibians, reptiles, invertebrates
What are behavioural responses ectotherms use to warm up?
- Basking/exposing themselves in the Sun - orienting their bodies to face the sun to receive maximum exposure to the sun.
- Pressing their bodies against the warm ground
- Endothermic metabolic reaction - e.g. muscle contraction and vibration, to increase cellular metabolism.
What are behavioural responses ectotherms use to cool down?
- Shelter from the sun by seeking shade.
- Press their bodies against cool surfaces, or move into available mud or water.
- Orientate their bodies to have minimal exposure to the sun.
- Reduce the level of movement to reduce the levels of metabolic heat being generated.