Overview: Urinary System
- The urinary system consists of paired kidneys, paired ureters, the urinary bladder, and the urethra.
- The kidneys filter blood, regulate body-fluid chemistry, and produce urine.
- The ureters carry urine from the kidneys to the urinary bladder.
- The urinary bladder stores urine until it is voluntarily released.
- The urethra carries urine from the urinary bladder to the outside of the body.
- The urinary system filters blood, regulates body-fluid chemistry, stores urine, and transports urine outside the body.
- Its filtering work produces and clears waste products from blood.
- The kidneys regulate extracellular-fluid electrolytes, synthesize renin and erythropoietin, and convert 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 into active calcitriol, or 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3.
- Renin is an enzyme hormone signal that begins a blood-pressure control pathway when the kidneys sense low fluid volume, low pressure, or low sodium delivery.
- Erythropoietin is a kidney-made hormone that tells bone marrow to increase red-blood-cell production when oxygen delivery is too low.
- Calcitriol is the active form of vitamin D, and it helps the body maintain calcium and phosphate balance.
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