Week 1

Homeostasis and Cellular Physiology

POR DR FRANKLIN HOWLEY

SEPTIEMBRE, 2023
Physiology
• Study of Functions of Living Things
• Two approaches to explain body functions
– Emphasis on purpose of body process (Why)
• Explanations are in terms of meeting a bodily need
– Emphasis on Mechanism (How)
• Explanations are in terms of cause and effect sequences
– Body is viewed as a machine
 Physiology is closely related to
Anatomy
• Study of the structure of the body
Physiological mechanisms are possible through structural design
Structure-Function relationships of the body include
• Heart receiving and pumping blood
• Teeth tearing and grinding food
 Organization of the Body

Levels of organization
• Chemical
– Molecules composed
of atoms
• Cellular
– Cells are basic unit
of life
• Tissue
• Organ
• Body system
• Organism
 Basic Cell Functions
• Obtain nutrients and oxygen from surrounding environment
• Perform chemical reactions that provide energy for the cell
• Eliminate carbon dioxide and other wastes to surrounding environment
• Synthesize needed cellular components
 Basic Cell Functions

• Control exchange of materials between cell and its surrounding

environment
• Sensing and responding to changes in surrounding environment
• Reproduction
– Exception
• Nerve cells and muscle cells lose their ability to reproduce during their early
development
 Tissues

• Groups of cells with similar structure and specialized function

• Four primary types of tissues
– Muscle tissue
– Nervous tissue
– Epithelial tissue
– Connective tissue
 Tissues

• Muscle tissue
– Specialized for contracting which generate tension and produce
movement
– Three types of muscle tissue
• Skeletal muscle
– Moves the skeleton
• Cardiac muscle
– Pumps blood out of the heart
• Smooth muscle
– Encloses and controls movement of contents through hollow tubes and
organs
 Tissues

• Nervous tissue
– Consists of cells specialized for initiating and transmitting electrical
impulses
– Found in brain, spinal cord, and nerves
• Epithelial tissue
– Consists of cells specialized for exchanging materials between the cell and
its environment
– Organized into two general types of structures
• Epithelial sheets
• Secretory glands
 Tissues

• Connective tissue
– Connects, supports, and anchors various body parts
– Distinguished by having relatively few cells dispersed within an abundance
of extracellular material
– Examples
• Tendons
• Bone
• Blood
 Organs

• Consist of two or more types of primary tissues that function together

to perform a particular function or functions
• Example
– Stomach
• Inside of stomach lined with epithelial tissue
• Wall of stomach contains smooth muscle
• Nervous tissue in stomach controls muscle contraction and gland secretion
• Connective tissue binds all the above tissues together
 Body Systems

• Groups of organs that perform related functions and interact to

accomplish a common activity essential to survival of the whole body
• Do not act in isolation from one another
• Human body has 11 systems
 Body Systems
• Circulatory System • Integumentary
• Digestive System System
• Respiratory System • Immune System
• Urinary System • Nervous System
• Skeletal System • Endocrine System
• Muscular System • Reproductive System
Body Systems
Body Systems
 Human Function

• Expected Learning Outcomes

– State the characteristics that distinguish living organisms from nonliving
objects.
– Explain the importance of defining a reference man and woman.
– Define homeostasis and explain why this concept is central to physiology.
– Define negative feedback, give an example of it, and explain its
importance to homeostasis.
– Define positive feedback and give examples of its beneficial and harmful
effects.
 Organization of Life
https://youtu.be/IYSlId-Ri7Q
 Characteristics of Life
• Organization—living things exhibit a higher
level of organization than the nonliving world
around them
• Cellular composition—living matter is always
compartmentalized into one or more cells
• Metabolism—sum of all internal chemical
change: anabolism, catabolism, and excretion
• Responsiveness and movement—sense and
react to stimuli (responsiveness, irritability,
or excitability)
 Characteristics of Life
• Homeostasis—maintaining relatively stable
internal conditions
• Development—differentiation and growth
• Reproduction—producing copies of
themselves; pass genes to offspring
• Evolution—mutations: changes in genetic
structure
 Physiological
Variation
• Sex, age, diet, weight, physical activity
• Typical physiological values
– Reference man
• 22 years old, 154 lb, light physical activity
• Consumes 2,800 kcal/day
– Reference woman
• Same as man except 128 lb and 2,000 kcal/day
• Failure to consider variation can lead to overmedication of elderly or
medicating women on the basis of research done on men
 Homeostasis

• Defined as maintenance of a relatively stable internal environment

– Does not mean that composition, temperature, and other characteristics
are absolutely unchanging
• Homeostasis is essential for survival and function of all cells
• Each cell contributes to maintenance of a relatively stable internal
environment
https://youtu.be/quQr6X1Q58I
https://youtu.be/4_X6LYq4vvM
Components of the extracelluar
fluid ( internal environment)
 Homeostasis

• Body cells are in contained in

watery internal environment
through which life-sustaining
exchanges are made
• Extracellular fluid (ECF)
– Fluid environment in which the
cells live (fluid outside the
cells)
– Two components
• Plasma, interstitial fluid
• Intracellular fluid (ICF)
– Fluid contained within all body
cells
Homeostasis
 Homeostasis

Factors homeostatically regulated include

• Concentration of nutrient molecules
• Concentration of O2 and CO2
• Concentration of waste products
• pH
• Concentration of water, salt, and other electrolytes
• Volume and pressure
• Temperature
 Contributions of Body
Systems to Homeostasis

• Circulatory system
– Carries materials from one part of the body to another
• Digestive system
– Breaks down dietary food into smaller molecules that can be distributed
to body cells
– Transfers water and electrolytes from external environment to internal
environment
– Eliminates undigested food residues to external environment in the feces
• Respiratory system
– Gets O2 from and eliminates CO2 to the external environment
– Important in maintenance of proper pH of internal environment
• Urinary system
– Removes excess water, salt, acid, and other electrolytes from plasma and
eliminates them in urine
 Contributions of Body
Systems to Homeostasis
• Skeletal system
– Provides support and protection for soft tissues and organs
– Serves as storage reservoir for calcium
– Along with muscular system enables movement of body and its parts
– Bone marrow is ultimate source of all blood cells
• Muscular system
– Moves the bones
• Integumentary system
– Serves as outer protective barrier
– Important in regulating body temperature
• Immune system
– Defends against foreign invaders and against body cells that have become
cancerous
– Paves way for repairing or replacing injured or worn-out cells
• Nervous system
– Controls and coordinates bodily activities that require rapid responses
– Detects and initiates reactions to changes in external environment
 Contributions of Body
Systems to Homeostasis

• Endocrine system
– Secreting glands of endocrine regulate activities that require duration
rather than speed
– Controls concentration of nutrients and, by adjusting kidney function,
controls internal environment’s volume and electrolyte composition
• Reproductive system
– Not essential for homeostasis (not essential for survival of individual)
– Is essential for perpetuating the species
Role of Body Systems in
Homeostasis
 Homeostatic Control
Systems
• In order to maintain homeostasis, control system must be able to
– Detect deviations from normal in the internal environment that need to be
held within narrow limits
– Integrate this information with other relevant information
– Make appropriate adjustments in order to restore factor to its desired value
• Control systems are grouped into two classes
– Intrinsic controls
• Local controls that are inherent in an organ
– Extrinsic controls
• Regulatory mechanisms initiated outside an organ
• Accomplished by nervous and endocrine systems
• Feedforward
– Term used for responses made in anticipation of a change
• Feedback
– Refers to responses made after change has been detected
– Types of feedback systems
• Negative
• Positive
 Homeostatic
Control Systems

• Negative feedback system

– Primary type of homeostatic control
– Opposes initial change
– Components
• Sensor
– Monitors magnitude of a controlled variable
• Control center
– Compares sensor’s input with a set point
• Effector
– Makes a response to produce a desired effect
• Positive feedback system
– Amplifies an initial change
– Do not occur as often as negative feedback system
– Example
• Uterine contractions become increasingly stronger until the birth of the baby
 Negative Feedback Loop

• Body senses a change and activates mechanisms to reverse it—dynamic

equilibrium
• Because feedback mechanisms alter the original changes that
triggered them (temperature, for example), they are called feedback
loops Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display.

1 Room temperature
fallsto66°F(19°C)

C10°
15°
20°
25°
6 Room cools down
F50°
60°
70°
80°

2 Thermost atactivates
furnace
C10°
15°
20°
25°

F50°
60°
70°
80°

5 Thermostat shuts
off furnace

4 Room temperature
rises to 70°F (21°C)

3 Heat output
(a)
 Negative Feedback
Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display.

75
Furnace turned
off at 70 oF
Room temperature (oF)

70

Set point 68 oF

65

Furnace turned
on at 66 oF
60
Time
Figure 1.9b
(b)

• Example: Room temperature does not stay at set point

of 68°F—it only averages 68°F
 Negative Feedback
Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display.

Sweating

Core body temperature

37.5 oC
(99.5 Vasodilation
oF)

37.0 oC Set point

(98.6
oF)

Vasoconstriction
36.5 oC
(97.7
oF)
Time

Shivering

• Example: Brain senses change in blood temperature

– If too warm, vessels dilate (vasodilation) in the skin and
sweating begins (heat-losing mechanism)
– If too cold, vessels in the skin constrict (vasoconstriction)
and shivering begins (heat-gaining mechanism)
 Homeostatis and
Negative Feedback
• Sitting up in bed causes a drop in blood pressure in
the head and upper torso region (local imbalance
in homeostasis); detected by baroreceptors
• Baroreceptors (sensory nerve endings) in the
arteries near the heart alert the cardiac center in
the brainstem. They transmit to the cardiac
center
 Homeostatis and
Negative Feedback

• Cardiac center sends nerve signals that increase

the heart rate and return the blood pressure to
normal; regulates heart rate
• Failure of this to feedback loop may produce
dizziness in the elderly
 Postural Change in Blood
Pressure
Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display.

Person rises
from bed
Blood pressure rises Blood drains from
to normal; homeostasis upper body, creating
is restored homeostatic imbalance

Cardiac center
accelerates heartbeat Baroreceptors above
heart respond to drop
in blood pressure

Baroreceptors send signals

to cardiac center of brainstem
 Homeostasis and Negative
Feedback

• Receptor—senses change in the body (e.g., stretch receptors that monitor

blood pressure)

• Integrating (control) center—control center that processes the sensory

information, “makes a decision,” and directs the response (e.g., cardiac
center of the brain)

• Effector—carries out the final corrective action to restore homeostasis

(e.g., cell or organ)
 Positive Feedback and
Rapid Change

• Self-amplifying cycle
– Leads to greater change in the same direction
– Feedback loop is repeated—change produces
more change
• Normal way of producing rapid changes
– Occurs with childbirth, blood clotting, protein
digestion, fever, and generation of nerve signals
 Positive Feedback and Rapid
Change

• During birth, the head of the fetus pushes

against the cervix and stimulates its nerve
endings
– Hormone oxytocin is secreted from the pituitary
gland
– Oxytocin travels through the bloodstream to the
uterus stimulating it to contract
– This action pushes the fetus downward toward
cervix, thus stimulating the cervix more, causing
the positive feedback loop to be repeated
 Click to edit Master title style
Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display.

3 Brain stimulates
pituitary gland to
secrete oxytocin

4
Oxytocin stimulates uterine
2 Nerve impulses contractions and pushes
from cervix fetus toward cervix
transmitted
to brain

1 Head of fetus
pushes against cervix
https://youtu.be/Iz0Q9nTZCw4
 Positive Feedback and Rapid Change

• Fever > 104°F

– Metabolic rate increases
– Body produces heat even faster
– Body temperature continues to rise
– Further increasing metabolic rate
• Cycle continues to reinforce itself
• Becomes fatal at 113°F
• Can lead to illness and death
• Pathophysiology
– Abnormal functioning of the body associated with disease
MUCHAS GRACIAS
DR FRANKLIN HOWLEY