Osmoregulation

and Excretion

Learning objectives
Explain osmoregulation in animal

Explain excretion in animal

Learning outcomes
To explain the osmoregulation of fresh water
and marine animal

To explain how an animals nitrogenous

wastes reflect its phylogeny and habitat
To explain the formation of urine

Overview
Osmoregulation.
Animal's nitrogenous waste.
Processing of blood filtrate in kidney.

A Balancing Act
Physiological systems of animals
operate in a fluid environment
Relative concentrations of water and
solutes must be maintained within
fairly narrow limits

 Freshwater animals show adaptations

that reduce water uptake and conserve
solutes
Desert and marine animals face
desiccating environments that can quickly
deplete body water

 Osmoregulation regulates solute

concentrations and balances the gain
and loss of water
Excretion gets rid of metabolic wastes

Osmoregulation balances the uptake

and loss of water and solutes
Osmoregulation is based largely on
controlled movement of solutes
between internal fluids and the
external environment

Osmosis
Cells require a balance between
osmotic gain and loss of water
Various mechanisms of
osmoregulation in different
environments balance water uptake
and loss

Osmotic Challenges
Osmoconformers, consisting only of some
marine animals, are isoosmotic with their
surroundings and do not regulate their
osmolarity

Osmoregulators expend energy to control

water uptake and loss in a hyperosmotic
or hypoosmotic environment

 Most animals are stenohaline; they

cannot tolerate substantial changes in
external osmolarity
Euryhaline animals can survive large
fluctuations in external osmolarity

Marine Animals
Most marine invertebrates are
osmoconformers
Most marine vertebrates and
some invertebrates are
osmoregulators

Gain of water and

salt ions from food
and by drinking
seawater

Excretion of
salt ions
from gills

Osmotic water loss

through gills and other parts
of body surface

Excretion of salt ions

and small amounts
of water in scanty
urine from kidneys

Osmoregulation in a saltwater fish

Marine Animals
Marine bony fishes are hypoosmotic to sea
water
They lose water by osmosis and gain salt
by diffusion and from food

They balance water loss by drinking

seawater

Osmotic water gain

through gills and other parts
of body surface
Uptake of
water and some
ions in food

Uptake of
salt ions
by gills
Osmoregulation in a freshwater fish

Excretion of
large amounts of
water in dilute
urine from kidneys

Freshwater Animals
Freshwater animals constantly take in water
from their hypoosmotic environment

They lose salts by diffusion and maintain water

balance by excreting large amounts of dilute
urine from kidney
Salts lost by diffusion are replaced by foods
and uptake across the gills

Animals That Live in Temporary Waters

Some aquatic invertebrates in

temporary ponds lose almost all
their body water and survive in a
dormant state
This adaptation is called
anhydrobiosis

100 m

100 m

Hydrated tardigrade

Dehydrated
tardigrade

Land Animals
Land animals manage water budgets
by drinking and eating moist foods
and using metabolic water

Water
balance in a
kangaroo rat
(2 mL/day)

Ingested
in food (0.2 mL)

Water
balance in
a human
(2,500 mL/day)

Ingested
in liquid
(1,500 mL)

Ingested
in food
(750 mL)

Water
gain
Derived from
metabolism (1.8 mL)

Feces (0.09 mL)

Urine
(0.45 mL)

Derived from
metabolism (250 mL)

Feces (100 mL)

Urine
(1,500 mL)

Water
loss

Evaporation (1.46 mL)

Evaporation (900 mL)

 Desert animals get major water

savings from simple anatomical
features

Water lost per day

(L/100 kg body mass)

hump

4
3
2
1
0
Control group
(Unclipped fur)

Experimental group
(Clipped fur)

Transport Epithelia
Transport epithelia are specialized cells that
regulate solute movement
They are essential components of osmotic
regulation and metabolic waste disposal
They are arranged in complex tubular networks
An example is in salt glands of marine birds,
which remove excess sodium chloride from the
blood

Nasal salt gland

Nostril
with salt
secretions

Lumen of
secretory tubule

Vein
Capillary

Artery

Secretory
tubule

NaCl

Transport
epithelium

Direction
of salt
movement

Blood
flow Secretory cell
of transport
epithelium

Central
duct

An animals nitrogenous wastes reflect

its phylogeny and habitat
The type and quantity of an animals
waste products may greatly affect its
water balance
Among the most important wastes
are nitrogenous breakdown products
of proteins and nucleic acids

Proteins

Nucleic acids

Amino acids

Nitrogenous bases

NH2
Amino groups

Most aquatic
animals,
including most
bony fishes

Ammonia

Mammals, most
amphibians,
sharks, some bony
fishes

Urea

Many reptiles
(including
birds), insects,
land snails

Uric acid

Forms of Nitrogenous Wastes

Different animals excrete

nitrogenous wastes in different
forms:
ammonia,
urea,
uric acid

Ammonia
Very soluble in water

can be tolerated only at very low

concentrations
need access to lots of water, excreted only in
large volume of very diluted solutions
most common in most aquatic animals,
including most bony fishes
excreted across the body surface and gill
epithelia into the surrounding water.

Urea
The liver of mammals and most adult
amphibians converts ammonia to less toxic
urea.

Very low toxicity can be transported and

stored safely at high concentrations.
The circulatory system carries urea to the
kidneys, where it is excreted through kidney
Produced in vertebrate liver by metabolic cycle
that combines ammonia with CO2.

Urea
Common in mammals, most adult amphibians,
sharks, some marine bony fishes, turtles
(terrestrial animals)
much less water is lost when urea is excreted.
Must expand energy to produce it from
ammonia.

Uric Acid
Insects, land snails, and many reptiles, including birds,
(animals with little access to water) mainly excrete
uric acid

Uric acid is largely insoluble in water and can be

secreted as a paste with little water loss
Relatively nontoxic
More energetically expensive to produce

The Influence of Evolution and Environment on

Nitrogenous Wastes

The kinds of nitrogenous wastes

excreted depend on an animals
evolutionary history and habitat
The amount of nitrogenous
waste is coupled to the animals
energy budget

Copyright 2005 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings

Diverse excretory systems are

variations on a tubular theme

Excretory systems regulate solute

movement between internal
fluids and the external
environment

Excretory Processes
Most excretory systems produce urine by
refining a filtrate derived from body fluids
Key functions of most excretory systems:
Filtration: pressure-filtering of body fluids
Reabsorption: reclaiming valuable solutes
Secretion: adding toxins and other solutes from the
body fluids to the filtrate
Excretion: removing the filtrate from the system

Capillary
Filtrate

Excretory
tubule

Filtration

Reabsorption

Secretion

Urine

Excretion

Survey of Excretory Systems

Systems that perform basic

excretory functions vary widely
among animal groups

They usually involve a complex

network of tubules

Protonephridia: Flame-Bulb Systems

A protonephridium is a network of deadend tubules lacking internal openings

The smallest branches of the network are

capped by a cellular unit called a flame
bulb
These tubules excrete a dilute fluid and
function in osmoregulation

Nucleus
of cap cell

Cilia
Interstitial fluid
filters through
membrane where
cap cell and tubule
cell interdigitate
(interlock)
Tubule cell

Flame
bulb

Protonephridia
(tubules)

Tubule

Nephridiopore
in body wall

Metanephridia
Each segment of an earthworm has a
pair of open-ended metanephridia
Metanephridia consist of tubules that
collect coelomic fluid and produce
dilute urine for excretion

Coelom
Capillary
network
Bladder
Collecting
tubule

Nephridiopore
Nephrostome

Metanephridium

Malpighian Tubules
In insects and other terrestrial arthropods,
Malpighian tubules remove nitrogenous
wastes from hemolymph and function in
osmoregulation

Insects produce a relatively dry waste

matter, an important adaptation to
terrestrial life

Digestive tract

Rectum
Hindgut
Intestine

Midgut
(stomach)

Malpighian
tubules
Feces and urine

Salt, water, and

nitrogenous
wastes

Anus

Malpighian
tubule
Rectum

Reabsorption of H2O,
ions, and valuable
organic molecules
HEMOLYMPH

Vertebrate Kidneys

Kidneys, the excretory organs of

vertebrates, function in both
excretion and osmoregulation

Nephrons and associated blood vessels are the

functional unit of the mammalian kidney
The mammalian excretory system centers on
paired kidneys, which are also the principal site of
water balance and salt regulation
Each kidney is supplied with blood by a renal
artery and drained by a renal vein
Urine exits each kidney through a duct called the
ureter
Both ureters drain into a common urinary bladder

Posterior vena cava

Renal artery and vein

Kidney

Renal
medulla
Renal
cortex
Renal
pelvis

Aorta
Ureter
Urinary bladder
Urethra
Ureter

Excretory organs and

major associated blood
vessels
JuxtaCortical
medullary nephron
nephron

Afferent
arteriole
Glomerulus
from renal
Bowmans capsule
artery
Proximal tubule
Peritubular capillaries

Renal
cortex

Collecting
duct

20 m
Renal
medulla

To
renal
pelvis
Nephron

Section of kidney from a rat

Kidney structure

SEM
Efferent
arteriole from
glomerulus

Distal
tubule
Collecting
duct

Branch of
renal vein
Descending
Loop limb
of
Henle Ascending
limb
Vasa
recta
Filtrate and blood flow

Structure and Function of the Nephron and Associated

Structures

The mammalian kidney has

two distinct regions: an outer
renal cortex and an inner
renal medulla

Copyright 2005 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings

 The nephron, the functional unit

of the vertebrate kidney, consists
of a single long tubule and a ball
of capillaries called the
glomerulus

Filtration of the Blood

Filtration occurs as blood pressure

forces fluid from the blood in the
glomerulus into the lumen of
Bowmans capsule

 Filtration of small molecules is

nonselective
The filtrate in Bowmans capsule
mirrors the concentration of
solutes in blood plasma

Pathway of the Filtrate

From Bowmans capsule, the

filtrate passes through three
regions of the nephron: the
proximal tubule, the loop of Henle,
and the distal tubule
Fluid from several nephrons flows
into a collecting duct

Blood Vessels Associated with the

Nephrons
Each nephron is supplied with blood by an
afferent arteriole, a branch of the renal artery
that divides into the capillaries
The capillaries converge as they leave the
glomerulus, forming an efferent arteriole
The vessels divide again, forming the peritubular
capillaries, which surround the proximal and
distal tubules

From Blood Filtrate to Urine:

A Closer Look
Filtrate becomes urine as it flows through the
mammalian nephron and collecting duct
Secretion and reabsorption in the proximal
tubule greatly alter the filtrates volume and
composition

Proximal tubule
NaCl Nutrients
HCO3
K+
H2O

H+

NH3

CORTEX
Descending limb
of loop of
Henle

Filtrate
H2O
Salts (NaCl and others)
HCO3
H+
Urea
Glucose; amino acids
Some drugs

Distal tubule
H2O

NaCl

K+

HCO3

H+

Ammonia,
uric acid,
penicillin
Thick segment
of ascending
limb
NaCl

H2O
OUTER
MEDULLA

NaCl
Thin segment
of ascending
limb

Key

Collecting
duct
Urea

NaCl

Active transport
Passive transport
INNER
MEDULLA

H2O

 Descending limb of loop of Henle is permeable

to water
Water leaves descending limb by osmosis due
to high solute concentration in medulla
Reabsorption of water continues as filtrate
moves into the descending limb of the loop of
Henle

Descending limb of loop of Henle is less

permeable to solutes

 Ascending limb is impermeable to water

Solutes/salt actively reabsorbed/diffuses from
permeable upper half of ascending limb into
tissue fluid
The distal tubule regulates the K+ and NaCl
concentrations of body fluids

The collecting duct carries filtrate through the

medulla to the renal pelvis and reabsorbs NaCl

Proximal tubule
NaCl Nutrients
HCO3
K+
H2O

H+

NH3

CORTEX
Descending limb
of loop of
Henle

Filtrate
H2O
Salts (NaCl and others)
HCO3
H+
Urea
Glucose; amino acids
Some drugs

Distal tubule
H2O

NaCl

K+

HCO3

H+

Ammonia,
uric acid,
penicillin
Thick segment
of ascending
limb
NaCl

H2O
OUTER
MEDULLA

NaCl
Thin segment
of ascending
limb

Key

Collecting
duct
Urea

NaCl

Active transport
Passive transport
INNER
MEDULLA

H2O

Tutorial
Explain the change of osmoregulation in a fish that
travel from sea to river.

Explain how an animals nitrogenous wastes reflect

its phylogeny and habitat
Explain the key functions of most excretory systems
Relate the structure of nephron to its function in
urine formation.