The waste product secreted by the kidneys that in mammals is a yellow to amber-colored, slightly acid fluid discharged from the body through the urethra.
[Middle English, from Old French, from Latin ūrīna.]
Dictionary:
u·rine (yʊr'ĭn) ![]() |
[Middle English, from Old French, from Latin ūrīna.]
| Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: urine |
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| Sci-Tech Encyclopedia: Urine |
An aqueous solution of organic and inorganic substances, mostly waste products of metabolism. The kidneys maintain the internal milieu of the body by excreting these waste products and adjusting the loss of water and electrolytes to keep the body fluids relatively constant in amount and composition. The urine normally is clear and has a specific gravity of 1.017–1.020, depending upon the amount of fluid ingested, perspiration, and diet. The increase in specific gravity above that of water is due to the presence of dissolved solids, about 60% of which are organic substances such as urea, uric acid, creatinine, and ammonia; and 40% of which are inorganic substances such as sodium, chloride, calcium, potassium, phosphates, and sulfates. Its reaction is usually acid (pH 6) but this too varies with the diet. It usually has a faint yellow color due to a urochrome pigment, but the color varies depending upon the degree of concentration, and the ingestion of certain foods (for example, rhubarb) or cathartics. It usually has a characteristic aromatic odor, the cause of which is not known. See also Kidney; Urea; Uric acid; Urinalysis; Urinary system.
| World of the Body: urine |
Urine is the fluid excreted by the kidneys. It consists of water, carrying in solution the body's waste products such as urea, uric acid, creatinine, organic acids, and also other solutes such as Na+, K+, Ca2+, Mg2+, Cl-, the body fluid concentrations of which are regulated by the kidneys.
After being produced by the kidneys, urine passes along the ureters to be stored in the bladder, until it is allowed to flow out of the body through the urethra, in the process of micturition (urination). The smooth muscle of the bladder forms an internal sphincter at its junction with the urethra, and further along the urethra is the voluntary-control external sphincter. The bladder begins to contract (micturition reflex), and produces the desire to urinate, when its volume exceeds about 200 ml. However, if we do not relax the external sphincter, the contractions subside, but return with increasing force and frequency as the bladder continues to fill. When the bladder volume is about 500 ml the micturition reflex may force open the internal sphincter and lead to a reflex relaxation of the external sphincter, so that urination occurs involuntarily.
Voluntary urination involves relaxation of the external sphincter and tensing of the abdominal muscles to increase abdominal pressure and compress the bladder, to initiate bladder contraction and relaxation of the internal sphincter.
Most people excrete about 1.5 litres of urine per day, but the volume can range (in healthy adults) from 400 ml up to about 25 litres, depending on fluid intake. In renal failure, there may be no urine production, and in the rare condition of untreated diabetes insipidus, the urine volume is consistently 25 litres/day. Urine is termed ‘dilute’ if its solute concentration (osmolality) is lower than that of the blood plasma, and ‘concentrated’ if its solute concentration is greater than that of the plasma.
Humans who are maximally conserving water — when their kidneys are reabsorbing as much as possible — can produce urine with a solute concentration (osmolality) about five times that of blood plasma. Many other animals can conserve water much more effectively. For example, cats, dogs, and rats can produce urine of ten times the plasma osmolality, and gerbils twenty times!
When voided, urine is normally sterile and clear, although it has a yellow colour due to the presence of pigments. However, small amounts of particulate matter such as epithelial cells and lipids may be present; these are ‘casts’. Protein is not normally filtered from the blood plasma by the kidneys, so protein in the urine — proteinuria — is generally indicative of damage to the glomeruli, at the blind inner ends of the kidney tubules, where filtration occurs. The urine may also appear to contain blood (haematuria). This may be due to haemolysis in the bloodstream (breakdown of red cells) so that some haemoglobin is released from them and excreted, or it may be due to the presence of whole red cells, as a result of bleeding in the kidneys or urinary tract.
Investigation of urine composition (urinalysis) is a normal part of diagnostic medicine and can indicate the presence of many different illnesses.
— Christopher Lote
See also bladder; body fluids; ions; kidneys; water balance.
| Dental Dictionary: urine |
The fluid excreted by the kidneys. Normal urine is clear, straw-colored, and slightly acidic, and has the characteristic odor of urea.
| English Folklore: urine |
For centuries, diagnosing illness by observing the patient's urine was standard medical procedure, and folk healers and cunning men continued doing so, especially for suspected witchcraft. It had an essential role in a common type of counterspell to cure such illness, based on the idea that the magic link between the witch and her victim could be exploited to cause pain to the former, using the victim's urine as the medium. It could be heated in a witch bottle, or baked in a cake, as Herrick describes (Hesperides (1648), no. 891). The witch would hurry to her victim's house, begging for mercy, and would agree to lift her spell (Opie and Tatem, 1989: 416-18).
In folk medicine, a lotion made from urine was thought good for chilblains; in the Fens, it had to be ‘the last urine passed by a dying person, mixed with beastlings, the first milk given by a cow after calving’ (Folklore 69 (1958), 118).
| Sports Science and Medicine: urine |
An aqueous solution of inorganic and organic salts, which include urea, representing the nitrogen waste products of metabolism excreted by the kidneys.
| Columbia Encyclopedia: urine |
| Occultism & Parapsychology Encyclopedia: Urine |
Urine has long been credited with magical and medicinal properties. It has been featured in black magic rituals. It has been mixed with wine, herbs, or oils; used as an ointment and in pills; employed in amulets, talismans, and charms ; and used in aphrodisiacs and fertility potions.
Medicinally, urine has unusual properties. It contains ammonia, which can neutralize acids, and is usually free from bacteria, thus has disinfectant properties. Women have drunk urine from their husbands to speed up childbirth or have been given their own urine to relieve hysteria. Male urine contains androsterone, a male hormone, and it has long been believed that drinking one's own urine improves health and virility. Moraji Desai, former prime minister of India, openly admitted to drinking a small quantity of his own urine each morning for health reasons.
| Health Dictionary: urine |
The fluid produced by the kidneys, consisting of water and dissolved substances, that is stored in the bladder and discharged through the urethra. (See excretory system.)
| Veterinary Dictionary: urine |
The fluid containing water and waste products which are secreted by the kidneys, stored in the bladder and discharged by way of the urethra. See also urinary.
| Wikipedia: Urine |
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This article is missing citations or needs footnotes. Please help add inline citations to guard against copyright violations and factual inaccuracies. (July 2007) |
Urine is a liquid product of the body that is secreted by the kidneys by process called urination and excreted through the urethra. Cellular metabolism generates numerous waste compounds, many rich in nitrogen, that require elimination from the bloodstream. This waste is eventually expelled from the body in a process known as micturition, the primary method for excreting water-soluble chemicals from the body. These chemicals can be detected and analyzed by urinalysis. Amniotic fluid is closely related to urine, and can be analyzed by amniocentesis.
Contents |
To eliminate soluble wastes, which are toxic, most animals have excretory systems. In humans soluble wastes are excreted by way of the urinary system, which consists of the kidneys, ureters, urinary bladder, and urethra. The kidneys extract the soluble wastes from the bloodstream, as well as excess water, sugars, and a variety of other compounds. Remaining fluid contains high concentrations of urea and other substances, including toxins. Urine flows through these structures: the kidney, ureter, bladder, and finally the urethra. Urine is produced by a process of filtration, reabsorption, and tubular secretion.
Urine is a transparent solution that can range from colorless to amber but is usually a pale yellow. Urine is an aqueous solution of approximately 95% water, with the remaining percentages being metabolic wastes such as urea, dissolved salts, and organic compounds. Fluid and materials being filtered by the kidneys, destined to become urine, come from the blood or interstitial fluid.
Except in cases of kidney or urinary tract infection (UTI), urine is virtually sterile and nearly odorless. Subsequent to elimination from the body, urine can acquire strong odors due to bacterial action. Most noticeably, the asphyxiating ammonia is produced by breakdown of urea. Some diseases alter the quantity and consistency of the urine, such as sugar as a consequence of diabetes.
Urea is toxic and can be irritating to skin and eyes. High concentrations in the blood can cause damage to organs of the body. However, after suitable processing (as is done, for example, on the International Space Station), it is possible to extract potable water for drinking.
The typical color can range from clear to a dark amber, depending mostly upon the level of hydration of the body, among other factors.
Urine contains a range of substances that vary with what is introduced into the body. Aside from water, urine contains an assortment of inorganic salts and organic compounds, including proteins, hormones, and a wide range of metabolites.
The smell of urine can be affected by the consumption of food. Eating asparagus is known to produce a strong odour in human urine. This is due to the body's breakdown of asparagusic acid. [2] Other foods that contribute to odor include curry, alcohol, coffee, turkey, onion and sugar puffs.[3][4]
| Look up turbid in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. |
Turbid urine may be a symptom of a bacterial infection, but can also be due to crystallization of salts such as calcium phosphate.
The pH of urine is close to neutral (7) but can normally vary between 6.5 and 7.4 In persons with hyperuricosuria, acidic urine can contribute to the formation of stones of uric acid in the kidneys, ureters, or bladder.[5] Urine pH can be monitored by a physician[6] or at home.
The amount of urine produced depends on numerous factors including state of hydration, activities, environmental factors, size, and health. In adult humans the average production is about 1 - 2 L per day. Producing too much or too little urine needs medical attention: Polyuria is a condition of excessive production of urine (> 2.5 L/day), in contrast to oliguria where < 400 mL are produced per day, or anuria with a production of < 100 mL per day.
Normal urine density or specific gravity values vary between 1.003–1.035 (g·cm−3) , and any deviations may or may not be associated with urinary disorders.
Many physicians in history have resorted to the inspection and examination of the urine of their patients. Hermogenes wrote about the color and other attributes of urine as indicators of certain diseases. Abdul Malik Ibn Habib of Andalusia d.862CE, mentions numerous reports of urine examination throughout the Umayyad empire.[7] Diabetes mellitus got its name because the urine is plentiful and sweet. A urinalysis is a medical examination of the urine and part of routine examinations. A culture of the urine is performed when a urinary tract infection is suspected. A microscopic examination of the urine may be helpful to identify organic or inorganic substrates and help in the diagnosis.
The color and volume of urine can be reliable indicators of hydration level. Clear and copious urine is generally a sign of adequate hydration, dark urine is a sign of dehydration. The exception is when alcohol, caffeine, or other diuretics are consumed, in which case urine can be clear and copious and the person still be dehydrated.
Aztec physicians used urine to clean external wounds to prevent infection, and administered it as a drink to relieve stomach and intestinal problems.
Urine contains proteins and other substances that are useful for medical therapy and are ingredients in many prescription drugs (e.g., Ureacin, Urecholine, Urowave). Urine from postmenopausal women is rich in gonadotropins that can yield follicle stimulating hormone and luteinizing hormone for fertility therapy. The first such commercial product was Pergonal. Urine from pregnant women contains enough human chorionic gonadotropins for commercial extraction and purification to produce hCG medication. Pregnant mare urine is the source of estrogens, namely Premarin.
Urine has been used in the manufacture of gunpowder. Urine, a nitrogen source, was used to moisten straw or other organic material, which was kept moist and allowed to rot for several months to over a year. The resulting salts were washed from the heap with water, which was evaporated to allow collection of crude saltpeter crystals, that were usually refined before being used in making gunpowder.[8]
Urine has often been used as a mordant to help prepare textiles, especially wool, for dyeing. In Scotland, the process of "walking" (stretching) the tweed is preceded by soaking in urine.[9]
Urine contains large quantities of nitrogen (mostly as urea), as well as significant quantities of dissolved phosphates and potassium, the main macronutrients required by plants. Diluted at least 8:1 with water it can be applied directly to soil as a fertilizer. Undiluted, it can chemically burn the roots of some plants, but it can be safely used as a source of complementary nitrogen in carbon rich compost.[10] Urine typically contains 70% of the nitrogen and more than half the phosphorus and potassium found in urban waste water flows, while making up less than 1% of the overall volume. Thus source separation and on-site treatment has been studied in Sweden as a way to partially close the cycle of agricultural nutrient flows, to reduce the cost and energy intensivity of sewage treatment, and the ecological consequences such as eutrophication, resulting from an influx of nutrient rich effluent into aquatic or marine ecosystems. The fertilization effect of urine has been found to be comparable to that of commercial fertilizers with an equivalent NPK rating. [11]
However, depending on the diet of the producer, urine may also have undesirably high concentrations of various inorganic salts such as sodium chloride, which are also excreted by the renal system. Concentrations of heavy metals such as lead, mercury, and cadmium, commonly found in solid human waste, are much lower in urine (though not low enough to qualify for use in organic agriculture under current EU rules). [12] Proponents of urine as an agricultural fertilizer usually claim the risks to be negligible or acceptable, and point out that sewage causes more environmental problems when it is treated and disposed of compared with when it is used as a resource.
It is unclear whether source separation and on site treatment of urine can be made cost effective, and to what degree the required behavioral changes would be regarded as socially acceptable, as the largely successful trials performed in Sweden may not readily generalize to other industrialized societies.[11] In developing countries, the application of pure urine to crops is rare, but the use of whole raw sewage (termed night soil) has been common throughout history.
Numerous survival instructors and guides,[13][14][15][16][17][18] including the US Army Field Manual,[19] advise against drinking urine for survival. These guides explain that drinking urine tends to worsen, rather than relieve dehydration due to the salts in it, and that urine should not be consumed in a survival situation, even when there is no other fluid available.
During World War I, the Germans experimented with numerous poisonous gases for use during war. After the first German chlorine gas attacks, Allied troops were supplied with masks of cotton pads that had been soaked in urine. It was believed that the ammonia in the pad neutralized the chlorine. These pads were held over the face until the soldiers could escape from the poisonous fumes, although it is now known that chlorine gas reacts with urine to produce toxic fumes (see chlorine and Use of poison gas in World War I).
Urine has also been historically used as an antiseptic.
Urban myth states that urine works well against jellyfish stings, and this scenario was demonstrated on an early episode of the CBS-TV show Survivor. At best, it is ineffective and in some cases this treatment may make the injury worse.[20][21][22]
Alchemists spent much time trying to extract gold from urine, and this effort led to discoveries such as white phosphorus, which was discovered by the German alchemist Hennig Brand in 1669 when he was distilling fermented urine. In 1773 the French chemist Hilaire Rouelle discovered the organic compound urea by boiling urine dry.
The word "urine" was first used in the 14th century. Before that, the concept was described by the now vulgar word "piss". Onomatopoetic in origins, "piss" was the primary means of describing urination, as "urinate" was at first used mostly in medical contexts. Likely, "piss" became vulgar through its use by lower class characters such as the reeve and the Wife of Bath in Geoffrey Chaucer's 14th century work The Canterbury Tales. "Piss" and its association with vulgarity has led to its current classification as obscene, as well as its use in such colloquial expressions as "to piss off", "piss poor", and others.
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| Translations: Urine |
Nederlands (Dutch)
urine, plas
Deutsch (German)
n. - Harn, Urin
Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - (φυσιολ.) ούρα, κάτουρο
Português (Portuguese)
n. - urina (f)
中文(简体)(Chinese (Simplified))
小便, 尿
中文(繁體)(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 小便, 尿
العربيه (Arabic)
(الاسم) بول
עברית (Hebrew)
n. - שתן, מי-רגליים
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