Question

If possible, please provide typed answer.

A-Discuss the route that blood takes on its way to becoming urine. Please include all structures of the urinary tract including the glomerulus, all tubules, arteries and veins involved in its production.

B-What type of epithelium lines the organs of the urinary system? Which type of epithelium is specific to the urinary system?

C-What are the organs of the endocrine system, include in your answer where the organ is located, what hormone(s), does it secrete and what effect does that hormone have on the target cell(s), organ(s), or body as a whole?

Answer 1

Step 1: Glomerulus filter

Each kidney contains over 1 million tiny structures called nephrons. Each nephron has a glomerulus, the site of blood filtration. The glomerulus is a network of capillaries surrounded by a cuplike structure, the glomerular capsule (or Bowman’s capsule). As blood flows through the glomerulus, blood pressure pushes water and solutes from the capillaries into the capsule through a filtration membrane. This glomerular filtration begins the urine formation process.

Step 2: Filtration membrane:

Inside the glomerulus, blood pressure pushes fluid from capillaries into the glomerular capsule through a specialized layer of cells. This layer, the filtration membrane, allows water and small solutes to pass but blocks blood cells and large proteins. Those components remain in the bloodstream.

Step 3: Reabsorption of nutrients into the blood:

The glomerulus filters water and small solutes out of the bloodstream. The resulting filtrate contains waste, but also other substances the body needs: essential ions, glucose, amino acids, and smaller proteins. When the filtrate exits the glomerulus, it flows into a duct in the nephron called the renal tubule. As it moves, the needed substances and some water are reabsorbed through the tube wall into adjacent capillaries. This reabsorption of vital nutrients from the filtrate is the second step in urine creation.

Step 4: Secretion of waste into the urine:

The filtrate absorbed in the glomerulus flows through the renal tubule, where nutrients and water are reabsorbed into capillaries. At the same time, waste ions and hydrogen ions pass from the capillaries into the renal tubule. This process is called secretion. The secreted ions combine with the remaining filtrate and become urine. The urine flows out of the nephron tubule into a collecting duct. It passes out of the kidney through the renal pelvis, into the ureter, and down to the bladder.