What is Osmoregulation?

Also Check – Excretory System notes

Osmoregulation in Human Beings:

• Osmoregulation is related to the habitat of an organism. In human beings this function is performed by the kidneys.
• The kidney while removing wastes like urea from the blood also regulates its composition, i.e., the percentage of water and salts.
• Kidneys have filtering units called nephrons which not only remove toxic wastes but also help in the reabsorption of useful products into the blood capillaries which surround the nephron. 
• In this way kidneys remove toxic waste and also control water balance and levels of mineral ions in the body.

Also Check – Significance of Excretion and Osmoregulation

Explanation of Osmoregulation in Human body

• Drinking enough water directly or through food helps the kidneys in their proper working. In tropical climates we drink a lot of  water during summer. Yet we urinate fewer times in summer than in winter and the urine passed is generally thicker. The reason is that in summer, we lose a considerable part of water through perspiration and the kidneys have to reabsorb more water from the urine making it more concentrated.
• In cholera, the patient suffers from vomiting and watery bowels. His intestines are unable to absorb water into the blood. The result is that his kidneys reabsorb almost all the water from the urine in the renal tubules and with it even the urea. Ultimately the patient may die due to poisoning by the accumulation of high quantities of urea in his body (uremia). The immediate treatment is to replenish water in the blood by glucose-saline drip or by giving oral rehydration solution (ORS) through the mouth

Also Check – Excretion In Human Beings