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Excretory System Terms to Know
Excretion: the act or process of discharging waste matter from the blood, tissues, or organs
Kidney: a pair of bean-shaped organs in the back part of the abdominal cavity that form and excrete urine, regulate fluid and electrolyte balance, and act as endocrine glands
Nephron: the filtering and excretory unit of the kidney, consisting of the glomerulus and tubules
Bowman's capsule: a membranous, double-walled capsule surrounding a glomerulus of a nephron
Glomerulus: a tuft of convoluted capillaries in the nephron of a kidney, functioning to remove certain substances from the blood before it flows into the convoluted tubule
Ureter: a muscular duct or tube conveying the urine from a kidney to the bladder
Reabsorption: the recovery of solutes and water from filtrate
Filtration: the extraction of water and small solutes, including metabolic wastes, from the body fluid
Urethra: the membranous tube that extends from the urinary bladder to the exterior
Urine: the liquid-to-semisolid waste matter excreted by the kidneys Sweat glands: glands in the skin that secrete sweat
Bladder: a muscular and membranous sac, in which the urine is retained until it is discharged from the body
Renal artery: an artery originating from teh abdominal aorta and supplying blood to the kidneys and adrenal glands and ureters
Aorta: the main trunk of the arterial system, conveying blood from the left ventricle of the heart to all of the body except the lungs
Metabolic wastes: substances left over from respiratory processes, which cannot be used by the organism and must therefore be excreted
Adrenal glands: two small glands, one located near the upper part of each kidney, that function in the endocrine system. Part of each adrenal gland secretes adrenaline; another part secretes other important hormones
Active transport: the movement of ions or molecules across a cellular membrane from a lower to a higher concentration, requiring the consumption of energy
Renal vein: a short thick vein that is formed in each kidney and empties into the inferior vena cava
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