Urine
- Urine is a liquid waste product of metabolism that is produced by humans and many other organisms. Urine is generated from the kidney and then moves to the bladder by the ureters.
- Urination causes urine to be expelled from the body through the urethra.
- Only a small amount of nitrogen-rich waste products from cellular metabolism—urea, uric acid, and creatinine—need to be eliminated from the bloodstream. Urine serves as the body’s primary means of excreting water-soluble substances and is how these waste products leave the body.
- The nitrogenous wastes of the mammalian body can be found through a urinalysis.
- In the nitrogen cycle, urine is crucial. Urine fertilizes the soil and aids plant growth in ecosystems with a healthy balance.
- So, urine can be used by plants as fertilizer.
- It serves as a territorial marking for some animals.
- In the past, aged or fermented urine (also known as lant) was used to make gunpowder, clean homes, tan leather, and color fabrics.
Composition of Urine
Water, which makes up around 95% of pee, is its main constituent. An animal’s urine concentration will directly correlate with its water consumption. This is so that only extra water is eliminated by urine. The urine contains waste materials that are also discharged. Creatinine is another waste material found in urine. Creatinine is a waste product produced when muscles contract and the kidneys can remove it through urine. It comprises around 0.1% of urine. The key electrolytes that are present in urine and account for a significant portion of its makeup are chloride, sodium, and potassium.
Additionally, pigments are a component of urine. Urine’s hue, which typically ranges from light yellow to dark amber, is determined by pigments. Urobilin, uroerythrin, and urochrome are the three primary pigments that make up urine composition. Urine is used to eliminate hormones. Medical testing can identify certain hormones, which aids in medical diagnosis. Amino acids and metabolites are also present in urine.
Human Urinary System
The process of removing chemicals from the body is known as excretion. Numerous cellular reactions generate diverse excretory products such as urea, uric acid, creatinine, bilirubin, and ammonia. Protein and nucleic acid metabolism’s breakdown products are these excretory by-products. These excretory products need to be removed from the body since a build-up of them can cause a variety of diseases. The three main excretion organs are the kidneys, large intestine, and skin.
Excretory products are eliminated through a variety of methods, including:
- Sweating: Salts, carbon dioxide, urea, and ammonia are all eliminated in very minute quantities through sweat.
- Urine: Urea, uric acid, creatinine, and ammonia are excreted by the kidneys through urine. Urine is also used to eliminate extra ions including Ca2+, Na+, and phosphates. Urine is used for the excretion of numerous medications, poisons, and even too much water.
- Feces: The body excretes minute amounts of water, inorganic salts, bacteria, byproducts of bacterial decomposition, undigested substances, and indigestible food components in feces. The majority of the bilirubin in bile is processed by bacteria in the small intestine and expelled in feces.
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