Library · Anatomy
Urethra
Make it clearer
The urethra is the tube urine leaves through. It is not a rigid hose: it is a dynamic fibromuscular tube, that is, made of fibrous tissue and muscle, and not an inert structure. It connects the bladder, where urine collects, to the outside.
What decides when it opens are two sphincters, two rings of muscle set around that tube. The internal one is made of smooth muscle, the involuntary kind, and it regulates flow without any input from you. The external one is under conscious control. Urinary continence, that is, being able to hold it, depends on both. Two valves on the same tube: one closes by itself, the other you close yourself.
Its length is not the same in everyone: the male urethra measures about 22 centimeters and the female about 4. And in men the tube does double duty, because besides urine it carries semen.
In brief
The urethra is a dynamic fibromuscular tube that connects the bladder to the outside and lets urine leave the body.
Two sphincters regulate that exit: the internal one, made of smooth muscle, controls flow involuntarily, and the external one is under voluntary control; urinary continence depends on them.
Two valves on the same tube: one closes by itself, the other you close yourself.
The male urethra is about 22 centimeters long and the female about 4; in men it also carries semen.
Sources (2)
- National Center for Biotechnology Information, StatPearls PublishingHistology, Male Urethra, StatPearlsPublished
- National Center for Biotechnology Information, StatPearls PublishingAnatomy, Abdomen and Pelvis, Sphincter Urethrae, StatPearlsPublished
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