11.3 The kidney and osmoregulation Flashcards
(107 cards)
What are the three main forms that animals excrete their nitrogenous waste in?
Urea, uric acid and ammonia
At the same time that animals excrete their nitrogenous wastes, they control their ___
Water and electrolyte balances.
Depending on what are animals classified as osmoregulators or osmoconformers?
Depending on the strategies used to achieve water balance.
What are osmoregulators?
- Oganisms that are able to keep or regulate the solute concentration of their body fluids above or below that of their external environment.
- These organisms have the ability to control the osmolarity of their tissues within very narrow limits.
- Changes in their environment generally have no effect on or cause only small fluctuations in their internal solute concentration.
Give examples of osmoregulators
Examples of osmoregulators include humans and birds.
What are osmoconformers?
- Marine organisms that actively or passively maintain an internal environment that is isosmotic to their external environment.
- This means that the solute concentration of their body fluid is the same as the solute concentration of the external medium in which the organisms live.
- These organisms cannot regulate the solutes of their body fluids at a concentration that is different from that of the external medium.
Give examples of osmoconformers
Examples of osmoconformers include sea stars, molluscs, marine crabs, jellyfish and other marine invertebrates.
Picture of the jellyfish: an osmoconformer
The body fluid of a marine organism was analysed and it was found to have the same solute concentration as sea water.
This organism is ___
An osmoconformer
The type of nitrogenous waste produced and excreted in animals is related to their ___
Evolutionary history and habitat
Explain how overhydration can happen
- Every year some people die of overhydration (excessive intake of water).
- This usually happens during sporting events, such as marathons or triathlons.
- When the normal balance of electrolytes in the body exceeds safe limits by overhydration, for example when sodium levels drop below 135 mmol/L, death may follow.
What can cause overhydration (other than drinking too much water)?
- Overhydration can also be caused by diseases that encourage water accumulation in the body.
- The consequence of overhydration is the swelling of body cells.
- This creates a very dangerous situation, as swollen cells in the brain lead to intracranial pressure.
What can intercranial pressure lead to?
- As this pressure increases, the blood flow to the brain can be interrupted, leading to dysfunction in the central nervous system, seizures, coma or even death.
- Additionally, consequences such as nausea and vomiting, changes in mental state (confusion or disorientation), muscle weakness or cramps, as well as unconsciousness may occur.
Explain dehydration
It occurs when you use or lose more fluid than you take in, and your body doesn’t have enough water and other fluids to carry out its normal functions.
What is dehydration caused by?
- It can be caused by vigorous exercise (especially in hot weather), intense diarrhoea, vomiting, fever, excessive sweating or by just not taking in enough fluids.
- This may also cause electrolyte imbalance.
What happens to your body when you are dehydrated?
- When you become dehydrated, your urine becomes darker and your skin will become less elastic, both your heart rate and breathing rate increase, while your blood pressure decreases.
- Dehydration may also affect your ability to sweat and in severe cases may cause brain damage and death.
Define osmoregulation
The maintenance by an organism of an internal balance between water and dissolved materials, regardless of environmental conditions. It includes the control of the water balance of the blood, tissue or cytoplasm of a living organism.
What role do the kidneys play in osmoregulation and excretion?
- They filter your blood to rid your body of nitrogenous waste, as well as regulating osmolarity and producing urine.
- Urine leaves the kidney via the ureter.
How does urine leave the kidneys?
Via the ureter
Drawing a kidney for the exam
You need to be able to draw and label a diagram of the human kidney
Diagram of a human kidney
What do kidneys regulate?
Osmolarity and excretion
How do kidneys regulate osmolarity and excretion? (reword?)
- The blood that enters the kidney through the renal artery needs to be filtered.
- The composition of the blood that leaves the kidney is different from the blood that enters the kidney.
- The following compounds are removed: drugs, toxins, nitrogenous waste, excess water, and salts.
- Large proteins remain in the blood.
- Protein found in the urine may indicate infection or disease of the kidney.
Explain the difference in the composition of blood entering and leaving the kidney in terms of glucose, oxygen, and carbon dioxide
- Glucose – some of the glucose is reabsorbed for metabolic processes, so the glucose concentration in the renal vein is slightly lower than that of the renal artery.
- Oxygen – some of the oxygen is also used in metabolic processes meaning the oxygen concentration is lower in the renal vein than in the renal artery.
- Carbon dioxide – the carbon dioxide concentration is higher in the renal vein than in the renal artery due to the production of carbon dioxide during respiration in the cells of the kidney.