10.

Homeostatic Mechanisms
Skin:

Function:
1. Protection

2. Waterproof barrier

3. Thermoregulation

Thermoregulation:
1. Sweat glands release sweat when the internal temperature is too high. The evaporation of
sweat uses heat energy of the skin. This takes away heat energy.

2. Vasodilation occurs when the body is too warm. The shunt vessel constricts and the
capillaries widen meaning more blood flows through the surface of the skin and so more heat
is lost through the radiation of heat. Vasoconstriction occurs when you are too cold. The
opposite occurs meaning less heat is lost through radiation.

3. Hair erector muscles relax to flatten the hair when it is warm. This means less trapped air
is present and therefore there is less insulation. The opposite occurs when it is cold.

4. Adrenaline is used to raise metabolism meaning more energy is released and so more heat
is also released.

5. Shivering – more respiration occurs in muscles meaning more heat is released.

Monitoring Body Temperature

The body temperature is monitored by a part of the brain called the thermoregulatory centre. This
is located in the hypothalamus of the brain.
Excretion: the removal of metabolic waste created in cells such as urea, carbon dioxide and
water. The lungs, kidneys and skin are all organs of excretion.

Renal/Urinary system:

Function:
The urinary system is used to create, store and remove urine which in turn removes wastes
such as urea. Blood flows to the kidneys which separates it into the components of urine:
water, urea, some salts. The urine them moves down the ureters and is stored in the bladder
until the two sphincter muscles relax where it then exits the body.

The components and various concentrations of urine may vary depending on the amount of
water and salt intake and whether you have kidney failure or diabetes.

Kidneys: the kidney is involved in both excretion and osmoregulation.

Nephron: there are millions of these in each kidney and they are the main areas of the kidney
where filtration occurs.
Ultrafiltration is the separation of smaller molecules such as glucose, water, urea, oxygen,
salts, and amino acids from the blood at the glomerulus in high pressure.
Selective reabsorption is where molecules in the glomerular substrate are retaken by the
capillaries at the proximal convoluted tubule. It is selective as only some molecules such as
glucose, amino acids and some salts are retaken.
Water is reabsorbed into the blood both through selective reabsorption and through osmosis
at the collecting ducts. The latter is controlled by ADH (anti-diuretic hormone). When the
hypothalamus detects the blood is too concentrated, it tells the pituitary gland to release
ADH which travels via the blood stream to the kidneys. ADH makes the collecting ducts more
permeable to water meaning more water is absorbed. This is how the kidneys act
in osmoregulation.
Homeostatic Mechanisms
Organisms are able to respond to changes in their environment by adapting their internal body
conditions. Homeostasis is the maintenance of a constant internal condition. Examples of
homeostasis are osmoregulation, thermoregulation and the regulation of the composition of
the blood.

Negative feedback:
This is an important control mechanism found in homeostasis where a response occurs to
conditions that have changed from the ideal or set point. Examples are temperature control
used by the skin and bloodglucose levels through the use of glucagon and insulin.
Kidney Transplant:
If the kidneys were to fail, without a kidney transplant or dialysis you would die very quickly as the
blood will become full of urea, which is toxic. Dialysis is where a machine is used to artificially
create a kidney as it essentially performs the job of the kidneys.

Problems:
• Risk of surgery
• Difficulty in finding donors and tissue matching.
• Use of immunosuppressants means chance of infection is high.
• Chance of organ rejection.
Advantages:
• Relatively cheaper than dialysis.
• Dialysis takes a long time (around thirty hours a week).
• Dialysis may cause damage to arteries and veins.
• Dialysis has a high chance of infection.
• A transplant is a permanent solution.
• A transplant will mean that urea concentration will remain constant while under dialysis it
will spike up and down.

Kidney Dialysis Machine

• The dialysis machine filters the patient’s blood, removing urea and other waste, as well as
excess water and salts. Blood from the patient flows on one side of the membrane in the
machine whilst clean dialysis solution flows on the other side. The dialysis solution
contains a solution of salt and glucose in the exact concentration that the body requires
• As the blood flows past the membrane, urea and unwanted water and salts diffuse through
the holes into the dialysis solution. The dialysis fluid is replaced with fresh solution all the
time.
• In order to carry out dialysis, it is easier to take blood from a vein than an artery because
veins are closer to the skin and have a wider diameter than arteries. However, the blood
pressure is too low, so an operation is first carried out to connect an artery to a vein
which increases the blood pressure.
• The purified blood returns to the patient through a second tube connected to the vein.

Liver:
• 1. Produces bile which is used to emulsify fats and to neutralise foods in the duodenum to
allow enzymes to work at optimum pH.
• 2. Regulates blood sugar. When glucose levels are too high the liver converts glucose to
glycogen while the opposite occurs if glucose levels are low.
• 3. It controls amino acids concentration. Urea is a byproduct of the breakdown of amino
acids.
• 4. The above is an example of detoxification where the liver breaks down toxic substances
into less toxic ones. Alcohol is another example of this.