Urogenital System

The Urogenital system is comprised to two systems, the excretory system and the reproductive system. These two systems are often studied together because they share some common ducts.

Click to view the female reproductive system

Click to go to the male reproductive system

Excretory System

The primary function of the excretory system is to eliminate nitrogenous wastes and maintain the homeostasis of bodily fluids by balancing their ion content. The paired kidneys play a major role in balancing ion content. Blood carrying waste products enters the kidney in the renal artery at the concave surface or hilus. After wastes are removed, blood leaves the kidney in the renal vein. Also leaving the kidney in the region of the hilus is the ureter, which carries urine toward the bladder.

Lying cranial to the kidney are the adrenal glands. These endocrine glands prepare the body for stress, regulate metabolism and affect sexual development.

Click to examine the major excretory structures.

Blood entering the kidney is filtered in the renal cortex and enters a tubular system. The filtrate is similar in composition to the blood, but lacks blood cells and other large ions, which are too large to pass through out of the capillary bed. The filtrate passes from the cortex into the medulla, where water, ions, nutrients and other substances are reabsorbed by the capillaries and leave the kidney in the renal vein. The filtrate that remain moves to the renal papilla, where the collecting ducts meet. Urine drips from the renal papilla into the renal pelvis, which is the expanded funnel-shaped end of the ureter. From the ureter the urine move to the bladder and to the outside in the urethra. The urethra will be seen when you study the reproductive systems

Click to test your knowledge of these structures.