Ask Me Everything8

Bladder basics

IBBB

Your stornach secretes

fl| The bladder is a hollow, muscular U organ that can storę around 1 pint (0.6 litres) of urine.

hydrochloric acid to

help with digestion.

tUrine is madę in the kidneys and transported to the bladder via two narrow tubes called ureters.

|fl As the bladder fills up with urine, IT it expands and its wali stretches. When the bladder is fully expanded stretch receptors in the wali send messages to your brain, telling you that it's time to find a toilet.

The acid is so corrosive that it could eat through metal, but the walls of the stornach are

tA sphincter muscle keeps the exit from the bladder to a tubę called the urethra closed until your brain instructs it to relax. Then, the bladder wali contracts and forces the urine down and out. Remember to flush!

protected from the acid by a layer of mucus.

TranspLant organs

These organs can be transplanted from a donor to replace a diseased organ in a recipienfs body:

■ Disconnect the heart/lung bypass machinę and close up the patienfs chest. Job done!

Lungs

Liver

Stornach

Heart

&

04,

Stitch all the

blood vessels into place, _A finishing with the aorta— the body's main artery. The new heart should start to beat.

Smali

intestine

«>

Kidneys

I Some morę organs I
1 organ	system	location	function
gallbladder	digestive	underside of liver	squeezes a green fluid called bile into your smali intestine to help break down fat in food
large intestine	digestive	abdomen —finał part of digestive tract	converts food waste into poo
spleen 1	lymphatic	between stornach and diaphragm on left side of body	removes viruses and bacteria from the blood, helping protect you from infections
larynx	respiratory	top of windpipe in the throat	contains vocal cords and creates sounds for speech

tongue

digestive mouth

flexible muscle used to move and taste food

Body organs 1136| 137

(c) 2011 Dorling Kindersley. All Rights Reserved.

_