The urinary system consists of 4 major organs;

the kidneys, ureters, urinary bladder and the urethra. Together these
organs act to filter blood, remove waste products, create urine and
transport urine out from the body.

The urinary system is also called the excretory system, because held within
the urine are the various excreted products, including by-products such
as urea and uric acid, drugs, excess body fluid and excess salts
(electrolytes). These functions play an important role in maintaining
appropriate levels of water and salts (electrolytes) in the blood.

This article will discuss the anatomy and functions of the urinary
system.

Key facts about the urinary system

Table quiz

Definition Also called the excretory system, the urinary system acts to remove waste
products and maintain the body’s balance of water and various chemical
compounds.

Urinary system organs Kidneys, ureters, bladder, urethra

Function - Excrete waste products from the body

- Maintain the body’s water balance
- Maintain the body’s salt (electrolyte) balance
- Regulates the blood’s acid-base (pH) balance
- Regulates the body’s blood volume
- Helps to regulate blood pressure (by releasing the enzyme renin)
- Helps stimulate red blood cell production (by releasing the hormone
erythropoietin)
- Converts Vitamin D to its active form of calcitriol
Urinary system organs

The organs of the urinary system are the kidneys, ureters, bladder and urethra. The kidneys
perform the filtration functions of the urinary system and create urine, while the remaining
organs act as transport tubes or provide temporary urine storage. The anatomy of the urinary
system can be seen here in the urinary system diagram.
Urinary system - Overview
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Kidneys
Right kidney
Ren dexter
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Synonyms: none

The kidneys are paired retroperitoneal organs located anterolateral to the spinal cord, near the
posterior body wall. They are roughly 12 cm in length and 6 cm wide, spanning from T12 to L3
vertebral levels. The bean-shaped kidneys are somewhat protected by the lower rib cage, and by
a protective layer of perirenal fat. On their concave medial surface is the renal hilum, which is
the location where the ureters, blood vessels and nerves enter or exit the organ. The most
important blood vessels entering and exiting the kidneys are the renal artery and renal vein.
The adrenal glands sit on the superior pole of each kidney.

Internally, the kidneys consist of 2 layers; a highly vascularized outer renal cortex and an
inner renal medulla. Spanning across these two layers are millions of the kidneys’ functional
units, the nephrons.

KidneysExplore study unit

Nephron
Cortical nephron
Nephronum corticale
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Synonyms: Short-looped nephron, Short nephron, show more...

Nephrons are the filtering structure of the kidney. They have two main parts, the renal
corpuscle and the renal tubule. The renal corpuscle is a small ball of capillaries (glomerulus)
surrounded by a double layered epithelial capsule (renal or Bowmans capsule) similar to pushing
your hand into a balloon.

The renal tubule is formed by small convoluted tubes which are closely associated with blood
vessels. Corpuscles are situated in the renal cortex, while tubules dive into the medulla. Water,
electrolytes and waste products are exchanged between the blood vessels and the capsule/tubes
of the nephrons by the process of both passive and active transport.

The products to be removed from the blood, or returned to the blood are very carefully selected
by these cells. Any liquid or chemical that remains in the nephrons’ tubes becomes urine. The
filtrate, or urine, gets carried out of the nephrons by collecting ducts, traveling through various
parts of the kidney before reaching the ureters.

UretersExplore study unit

Bladder
Ureteric orifice
Ostium ureteris
1/5
Synonyms: Orificium ureteris

The urinary bladder is a muscular sac whose function is to temporarily store urine. It is located in
the pelvis, just posterior to the pubic symphysis. Its walls consist of smooth muscle which allows
the bladder to stretch, permitting the bladder to store an increasing amount of urine.

When distended with urine, the bladder sends a signal to the nervous system to initiate the
process of micturition (urination).

In males, the neck of the bladder is surrounded by the prostate gland.

Female urinary bladder and urethraExplore study unit

Male urinary bladder and urethraExplore study unit

Urethra
Urethra
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Synonyms: none

The urethra is a single thin walled tube that carries urine from the bladder to outside of the body.
It is associated with two urethral sphincters, an internal smooth muscle (involuntary) urethral
sphincter and an external skeletal muscle (voluntary) urethral sphincter.

The urethra differs between sexes, with the female urethra being much shorter in length and the
opening located anterior to the vagina. The male urethra is longer as it travels the length of the
penis, with the opening located at the tip of the glans penis.

The male urethra has the double function of both urine and semen transportation.

Urinary system function

The main function of the urinary system is to remove waste products from the body and maintain
water, electrolyte and acid-base (pH) balance in the blood. It does this through the formation of
urine. Waste products are filtered from the blood into the urine filtrate by nephrons. Water,
electrolyte and acid-base balance is a finely controlled process of filtration, reabsorption and
secretion, also occurring through nephrons.

The urinary system has a homeostatic relationship with many other body systems, by which one
or both rely on the other for effective functioning. For example the endocrine system produces
hormones such as antidiuretic hormone and aldosterone, which help to control the kidney’s
reabsorption of water and salts. This same water and salt balance is vital for the accurate function
of the muscular system, cardiovascular system and nervous system. Without appropriate levels of
sodium, potassium and calcium contraction of skeletal and cardiac muscle and the function of
nerves would be disrupted. Further, water and electrolyte balance in the body is necessary for
maintaining blood volume and blood pressure. While systemic blood pressure of the
cardiovascular system is responsible for driving the passive filtration of water and substances out
of the glomerulus into the renal capsule.

The urinary system has other endocrine functions too, with the kidney producing the
enzyme renin, the hormone erythropoietin and acting in the conversion of vitamin D. Our bodies
derive vitamin D either through diet or by skin synthesis when exposed to ultraviolet light. It is
then processed, firstly by the liver then by the kidneys, to transform it from its initial inactive
prohormone state into the active product of 1,25 vitamin D (calcitriol). Activated Vitamin D can
then be used by the body in various processes, including the absorption of calcium from the
gastrointestinal tract and the deposition of calcium into bone. Erythropoietin is produced by
specialized kidney cells, called interstitial cells, in response to tissue hypoxia. Low oxygen
situations such as anemia, living at high altitude or certain cardiac and pulmonary diseases will
result in tissue hypoxia. Erythropoietin acts on stem cells in bone marrow to increase red blood
cell production, this in turn results in more red blood cells circulating in our blood, carrying more
oxygen around the body and raising oxygenation of tissues. Renin is a hormone that plays a very
important role in blood pressure control, via the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone mechanism. Low
blood pressure, low sodium levels, or specific sympathetic nervous system activity stimulates
juxtaglomerular cells in the kidneys to produce renin.

Renin then acts like an enzyme on the plasma protein angiotensinogen, converting it to
angiotensin I. Angiotensin I has some vasoconstrictor properties but for the most part it leaves
the kidneys and enters the circulatory system to travel to the lungs. Here angiotensin I is
converted to angiotensin II by angiotensin converting enzyme. Angiotensin II has a number of
functions; it is a strong vasoconstrictor, it acts on the kidneys to decrease salt and water excretion
and it stimulates the production of aldosterone from the adrenal glands (which also decreases salt
and water excretion). All these actions individually result in increased blood pressure, acting
together gives an enhanced effect.

Neurovascular supply
Renal artery
Arteria renalis
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Synonyms: none

The kidneys are supplied by the renal artery and drained by the renal vein. Neural supply is by
the renal plexus.

The ureters receive blood supply from a number of different sources, including the ureteric
branches of renal artery, ovarian/testicular artery, ureteric branches of the abdominal aorta and
common iliac arteries, ureteric branches of the superior and inferior vesical and uterine arteries
Nervous innervation is by the renal plexus and ganglia, aortic plexus, ureteric branches of
intermesenteric plexus, pelvic splanchnic nerves, superior and inferior hypogastric plexuses.

The urinary bladder receives arterial supply from the superior and inferior vesical arteries,
venous drainage is by the vesical venous plexus (vesical veins) and innervation is provided by
the vesical plexus, and inferior hypogastric plexus.

The urethra is supplied by the internal pudendal artery, vaginal artery, vesical venous plexus
(vesical veins), vesical nerve plexus and pudendal nerve, in the case of the female and by the
inferior vesical artery, artery of bulb of penis, prostatic venous plexus, prostatic nerve plexus and
pudendal nerve in males.

Test your knowledge on the urinary system with this quiz.