Understanding the Urinary System: Anatomy and Functions

Running head: BIOLOGY
Biology:
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Biology1
Question 1:
Figure 1: Anatomy of the urinary system
Source: National Cancer Institute (2019)

Biology2
The urinary system of the human body consists of two ureters, two kidneys, urethra and a
bladder.
Kidneys: Kidney is a purplish-brown organ positioned beneath ribs at the posterior wall of the
abdominal part at the waist level. The kidney remains encased within the outer capsule, fibrous
in nature and is termed as a renal capsule (Glassock and Rule 2016).
The kidney is used to control blood composition and blood value. It is controlled by
filtration, which helps to remove waste, excess water and salt from the blood. These waste are
then secreted by urine.
Ureters: Ureters are the narrow tube which is used to carry urine to urinary bladder from the
kidney. The upper part of the ureter is situated at the abdominal part of the system, whereas, the
lower part is situated in the pelvic area (Mulţescu et al. 2016).
The main function of the ureter is to pass down the urine. Hence, to pass the urine from
the kidney to the bladder, the muscles of the ureter start tightening continuously and relaxing
subsequently away from kidney.
Bladder: Urinary bladder is triangle shaped organ which is hollow in structure and is located at
the lower abdomen level. The bladder is held in its position by the help of ligaments which
remain attached to the pelvic bones and other organs.
The main function of the urinary bladder is to store urine. The urine is stored in the
urinary bladder by expanding and relaxing the walls of the bladder. When the urine needs to be
excreted from the body, the walls of the bladder starts contracting. A healthy bladder can store
the urine for about 2 to 5 hours.

Biology3
Urethra: Urethra is a small tube-like structure that helps the urine to be excreted from the body
from the bladder. It is situated below the urinary bladder (Tortora and Derrickson 2017).
The primary function of the urethra is to excrete the urine out of the body. It is done by
tightening the muscle, which is done by triggering the brain signal. The bladder squeezes the
urine out of the body.
Sphincter muscle: These muscles are circular in shape which prevents the leakage of urine by
tightly closing the rubber band present around the bladder’s opening.
Blood supply: The blood supply of the urinary systems is done mainly through the inferior and
the superior vesical arteries. These arteries indirectly or directly arising from the artery named as
an internal iliac artery.
The urinary bladder functions by the help of signals received from the brain. The urinary
bladder is supplied with different branches which include, sensory fibres which are enthused by
extending, instigating a consciousness of fullness and triggering reflexes, parasympathetic
motorfibres toward the detrusor and sympathetic fibres to the blood vessels (McBride 2016).
Question 2:
A. Diagram of kidney