Question

Discuss one way in which the urinary system maintains homeostasis. Be sure to include details about tissues and cells involved, any hormones that may regulate or control these systems, nervous system control, and symptoms of the homeostatic imbalance.

Answer 1

Homeostasis

All of the organs and organ systems of the human body work together like a well-oiled machine. This is because they are closely regulated by the nervous and endocrine systems. The nervous system controls virtually all body activities, and the endocrine system secretes hormones that regulate these activities. Functioning together, the organ systems supply body cells with all the substances they need and eliminate their wastes. They also keep temperature, pH, and other conditions at just the right levels to support life processes.

Maintaining Homeostasis

The process in which organ systems work to maintain a stable internal environment is called homeostasis. Keeping a stable internal environment requires constant adjustments. Here are just three of the many ways that human organ systems help the body maintain homeostasis:

Urinary system:The Urinary organs include the kidneys, ureters, bladder, and urethra. The Urinary system works with the other systems of the body to help maintain homeostasis. The kidneys are the main organs of homeostasis because they maintain the acid base balance and the water salt balance of the blood.

One of the major functions of the Urinary system is the process of excretion. Excretion is the process of eliminating, from an organism, waste products of metabolism and other materials that are of no use. The urinary system maintains an appropriate fluid volume by regulating the amount of water that is excreted in the urine. Other aspects of its function include regulating the concentrations of various electrolytes in the body fluids and maintaining normal pH of the blood. Several body organs carry out excretion, but the kidneys are the most important excretory organ. The primary function of the kidneys is to maintain a stable internal environment (homeostasis) for optimal cell and tissue metabolism. They do this by separating urea, mineral salts, toxins, and other waste products from the blood. They also do the job of conserving water, salts, and electrolytes. At least one kidney must function properly for life to be maintained. Six important roles of the kidneys are:

Regulation of plasma ionic composition. Ions such as sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, chloride, bicarbonate, and phosphates are regulated by the amount that the kidney excretes.

Regulation of plasma osmolarity. The kidneys regulate osmolarity because they have direct control over how many ions and how much water a person excretes.

Regulation of plasma volume. Your kidneys are so important they even have an effect on your blood pressure. The kidneys control plasma volume by controlling how much water a person excretes. The plasma volume has a direct effect on the total blood volume, which has a direct effect on your blood pressure. Salt(NaCl)will cause osmosis to happen; the diffusion of water into the blood.

Regulation of plasma hydrogen ion concentration (pH). The kidneys partner up with the lungs and they together control the pH. The kidneys have a major role because they control the amount of bicarbonate excreted or held onto. The kidneys help maintain the blood Ph mainly by excreting hydrogen ions and reabsorbing bicarbonate ions as needed.

Removal of metabolic waste products and foreign substances from the plasma. One of the most important things the kidneys excrete is nitrogenous waste. As the liver breaks down amino acids it also releases ammonia. The liver then quickly combines that ammonia with carbon dioxide, creating urea which is the primary nitrogenous end product of metabolism in humans. The liver turns the ammonia into urea because it is much less toxic. We can also excrete some ammonia, creatinine and uric acid. The creatinine comes from the metabolic breakdown of creatine phospate (a high-energy phosphate in muscles). Uric acid comes from the break down of nucleotides. Uric acid is insoluble and too much uric acid in the blood will build up and form crystals that can collect in the joints and cause gout.

Secretion of Hormones The endocrine system has assistance from the kidney's when releasing hormones. Renin is released by the kidneys. Renin leads to the secretion of aldosterone which is released from the adrenal cortex. Aldosterone promotes the kidneys to reabsorb the sodium (Na+) ions. The kidneys also secrete erythropoietin when the blood doesn't have the capacity to carry oxygen. Erythropoietin stimulates red blood cell production. The Vitamin D from the skin is also activated with help from the kidneys. Calcium (Ca+) absorption from the digestive tract is promoted by vitamin D.

Nervous system control:

A major function of the nervous system is to control the relative constancy of the internal environment of the organism. That is, to provide the right chemical environment for living processes to take place. This control of the internal environment is known as homeostasis. Any disturbances in the internal environment are monitored by sense organs: for example chemoreceptors sensitive to the partial pressure of oxygen in the arterial blood, mechanoreceptors sensitive to blood pressure, and chemoreceptors within the central nervous system itself sensitive to hydrogen ion concentration or to various hormones. The information from the sense organs is fed to the central nervous system, where it is processed and appropriate outputs sent to the effectors, muscle (striated, smooth and cardiac) and glands, to counteract the disturbance. Such a function is essentially the same as that carried out by a physical servosystem like a governor on a steam engine, or a central heating control system that measures room temperature and keeps it within certain limits by regulating the output of the heating unit

Symptoms of homeostic imbalance:

Common problems such as confusion, irritability, aggression, anxiety, listlessness, delirium, increased heartbeat, low blood pressure, fast breathing, decreased urine output, constipation and falls can be a direct consequence of a homeostatic imbalance.