The urinary

system

Presented by
Raheel Ahmad
Shining star nursing academy
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 The urinary system is the main excretory system
and consists of the following structures:
 2 kidneys, which secrete urine
 2 ureters that convey the urine from the
kidneys to the urinary bladder
 the urinary bladder, which collects and stores
urine
 the urethra through which urine leaves the body.
 Urine is stored in the bladder and excreted by
the process of micturition.
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 Functions of urinary
system

 Formation of urine, maintaining water, electrolyte and
acid–base balance
 Excretion of waste products
 Production and secretion of erythropoietin, the
hormone that stimulates formation of red blood cells
 Production and secretion of renin, an important enzyme
in the control of blood pressure
 The urinary system plays a vital part in maintaining
homeostasis of water and electrolytes within the body.
 The kidneys produce urine that contains metabolic waste
products, including the nitrogenous compounds urea and
uric acid, excess ions and some drugs.
 Kidneys

 The kidneys lie on the posterior abdominal wall, one on
each side of the vertebral column, behind the peritoneum
and below the diaphragm. They extend from the level of
the 12th thoracic vertebra to the 3rd lumbar vertebra.
 The right kidney is usually slightly lower than the left,
probably because of the considerable space occupied by
the liver.
 Kidneys are bean-shaped organs, about 11 cm long, 6 cm
wide, 3 cm thick and weigh 150 g. They are embedded in,
and held in position by, a mass of fat.
 A sheath of fibrous connective tissue, the renal fascia,
encloses the kidney and the renal fat.
 Organs associated
 with thekidneys
As the kidneys lie on either side of the vertebral
column, each is associated with different structures.
 Right kidney
 Superiorly – the right adrenal gland
 Anteriorly – the right lobe of the liver, the duodenum
and the hepatic flexure of the colon
 Posteriorly – the diaphragm, and muscles of the
posterior abdominal wall.
 Left kidney
 Superiorly – the left adrenal gland
 Anteriorly – the spleen, stomach, pancreas, jejunum
and splenic flexure of the colon
 Posteriorly – the diaphragm and muscles of the
posterior abdominal wall.
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 Gross structure of the
kidney
 An outer fibrous capsule, surrounding the kidney

 The cortex, a reddish-brown layer of tissue immediately
below the capsule and outside the renal pyramids
 The medulla, the innermost layer, consisting of pale
conical-shaped striations, the renal pyramids.
 The hilum is the concave medial border of the kidney
where the renal blood and lymph vessels, the ureter and
nerves enter.
 Urine formed within the kidney passes through a renal
papilla at the apex of a pyramid into a minor calyx
 Several minor calyces merge into a major calyx and two
or three major calyces combine forming the renal
pelvis, a funnel shaped structure that narrows when it
leaves the kidney as the ureter.
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 The walls of the calyces and renal pelvis are
lined with transitional epithelium and
contain smooth muscle.
Microscopic structure
of the 
kidney
 The kidney contains about 1–2 million functional units,
the nephrons, and a much smaller number of collecting
ducts. The collecting ducts transport urine through the
pyramids to the calyces, giving the pyramids their striped
appearance.
 The nephron:
 The nephron is essentially a tubule closed at one end that
joins a collecting duct at the other end.
 The closed or blind end is indented to form the cup-
shaped glomerular capsule (Bowman’s capsule), which
almost completely encloses a network of tiny arterial
capillaries, the glomerulus.
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 Continuing from the glomerular capsule, the remainder of
the nephron is about 3 cm long and described in three
parts:
 the proximal convoluted tubule
 the medullary loop (loop of Henle)
 the distal convoluted tubule, leading into a collecting
duct.
 The collecting ducts unite, forming larger ducts that
empty into the minor calyces. The kidneys receive about
20% of the cardiac output.
 In the cortex an arteriole, the afferent arteriole, enters
each glomerular capsule and then subdivides into a
cluster of tiny arterial capillaries, forming the glomerulus.
 The blood vessel leading away from the glomerulus is the
efferent arteriole.
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
Ureters
The ureters carry urine from the kidneys to the
urinary bladder . They 
are about 25–30 cm long
with a diameter of approximately 3 mm. The
ureter is continuous with the funnel-shaped renal
pelvis
 Structure

 The walls of the ureters consist of three layers of
tissue
 An outer covering of fibrous tissue, continuous
with the fibrous capsule of the kidney
 A middle muscular layer consisting of
interlacing smooth muscle fibres that form a
functional unit round the ureter and an additional
outer longitudinal layer in the lower third
 An inner layer, the mucosa, composed of
transitional epithelium
 Urinary bladder

 and position vary,
The urinary bladder is a reservoir for urine. It lies in
the pelvic cavity and its size
depending on the volume of urine it contains. When
distended, the bladder rises into the abdominal cavity.
 Structure:
 The bladder is roughly pear shaped, but becomes
more balloon shaped as it fills with urine. The posterior
surface is the base. The bladder opens into the urethra
at its lowest point, the neck.
 The peritoneum covers only the superior surface
before it turns upwards as the parietal peritoneum
 Posteriorly it surrounds the uterus in the female and
the rectum in the male.
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 The bladder wall is composed of three layers:
 • the outer layer of loose connective tissue,
containing blood and lymphatic vessels and nerves,
covered on the upper surface by the peritoneum
 • the middle layer, consisting of interlacing smooth
muscle fibres and elastic tissue loosely arranged in
three layers. This is called the detrusor muscle and
when it contracts, it empties the bladder
 • the inner mucosa, composed of transitional
epithelium that readily permits distension of the
bladder as it fills.
 When the bladder is empty the inner lining is arranged
in folds, or rugae, which gradually disappear as it fills
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 The total capacity is rarely more than about
600 mL. The three orifices in the bladder wall
form a triangle or trigone.
 Urethra

 The urethra is a canal extending from the neck of the
bladder to the exterior, at the external urethral orifice.
It is longer in the male than in the female.
 The female urethra is approximately 4 cm long and 6
mm in diameter.
 The wall of the female urethra has two main layers: an
outer muscle layer and an inner lining of mucosa is
continuous with that of the bladder.
 The muscle layer has two parts, an inner layer of
smooth muscle that is under autonomic nerve control,
and an outer layer of striated (voluntary) muscle
surrounding it.
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