lecture 30 - ureters, bladder and urethra

Question 1

What is transitional epithelium?

Answer 1

Stratified rounded cells arranged randomly that stretch when flattened

Question 2

What is the function of transitional epithelium in the urinary system?

Answer 2

Protection - prevents leaking of urine into underlying tissues by ensuring epithelium cells remain together when stretched

Question 3

Where do the ureters arise?

Answer 3

From each renal pelvis at the hilum

Question 4

What do the ureters transport?

Answer 4

Urine from the kidneys to the bladder

Question 5

Do the ureters descend retroperitoneally or intraperitoneally from the hila?

Answer 5

Retroperitoneally

Question 6

What aids in moving urine from the kidneys to the bladder via the ureters?

Answer 6

Peristaltic waves

Question 7

What are the 3 layers of the ureter?

Answer 7

Transitional epithelium, muscularis, adventitia

Question 8

What are the 2 layers of the muscularis in the ureter?

Answer 8

Inner longitudinal and outer circular

Question 9

What is the outermost layer of the ureter?

Answer 9

Adventitia - outer covering of fibrous connective tissue

Question 10

What is found on the inner surface of the ureter?

Answer 10

Folded protective inner protein plaques

Question 11

How do the ureters enter the bladder?

Answer 11

Run obliquely through the bladder wall at its posterolateral corners

Question 12

How is backflow from the bladder to the ureter prevented?

Answer 12

The ureter acts as a sphincter/valve and is compressed by increase bladder pressure to prevent back flow

Question 13

What is the urinary bladder?

Answer 13

A collapsible muscular sac that stores and expels urine

Question 14

What feature of the bladder helps it to collapse when empty?

Answer 14

Rugae - temporary folds

Question 15

What is the trigone of the bladder?

Answer 15

Triangular region between 2 openings of the entry of the ureters and 1 opening for the urethra at the bottom

Question 16

What is the shape of an empty bladder?

Answer 16

Pyramidal

Question 17

Where does the bladder sit when empty?

Answer 17

Within the pelvis

Question 18

What is the shape of a full bladder?

Answer 18

Spherical

Question 19

Where does the bladder sit when full?

Answer 19

Expands superiorly into the abdominal cavity

Question 20

What is the relative location of the bladder in males?

Answer 20

Anterior to rectum and superior to the prostate gland

Question 21

What is the relative location of the bladder in females?

Answer 21

Anterior to the vagina, uterus and rectum

Question 22

What epithelium lines the urinary bladder wall?

Answer 22

Transitional epithelium

Question 23

What is the name for the thick smooth muscle layer in the bladder?

Answer 23

Detrusor

Question 24

What types of muscle fibres are found in the detrusor?

Answer 24

Longitudinal, circular and oblique smooth muscle fibres

Question 25

Is there a motility pattern in expulsion of urine from the bladder?

Answer 25

No -strong contractions expel urine rapidly

Question 26

What is the urethra?

Answer 26

A thin walled muscular tube that drain the urine from the bladder out of the body

Question 27

How does the epithelium change in the urethra?

Answer 27

Transitional near bladder then columnar then stratified squamous near external opening

Question 28

What feature of the urethra epithelium protects it from urine?

Answer 28

Mucus glands

Question 29

What is the name for the external opening of the urethra?

Answer 29

External meatus/orifice

Question 30

What are the features of the male urethra?

Answer 30

Long, part of reproductive system, initial section surrounded by the prostate gland, has 3 sections - prostatic, membranous, spongy/penile

Question 31

What are the features of the female urethra?

Answer 31

short, seperate from the reproductive system

Question 32

What are the 3 sections of the male urethra?

Answer 32

Prostatic, membranous, spongy/penile.

Question 33

What are the 2 sphincters of the bladder that control flow into the urethra?

Answer 33

Internal and external urethral/urinary sphincters

Question 34

What muscle is the internal urethral sphincter made of?

Answer 34

Continuation of the Detrusor muscle (smooth muscle) of the bladder

Question 35

Is the internal urtheral sphincter under involuntary or voluntary control?

Answer 35

Involuntary

Question 36

Where is the external urethral sphincter located?

Answer 36

Where the urethra passes through the urogenital diaphragm

Question 37

What type of muscle makes up the urogenital diaphragm?

Answer 37

Skeletal muscle

Question 38

What is the process of urination?

Answer 38

Bladder fills and expands, triggering stretch receptors that signal, with increasing urgency, to the brain. The internal sphincter unconsciously relaxes and then the external sphincter is consciously relaxed to release urine.