PHS 201 (GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF PHYSIOLOGY, EXCITABLE

TISSUES AND AUTONOMIC NERVOUS SYSTEM)

NWAJI, Azubuike R.

INTRODUCTION

Physiology is the most fascinating and ancient branch of science. Fascinating

because, it unfolds the mystery of complicated functional aspects of

individual organs in the body and ancient because, it exists ever since the

origin of life. For instance even before knowing the culture, language and

society, man already knew about thirst, pain, hunger and fear which

constitute the basics of physiology.

What is Physiology?

Jean Fernel (1497-1558), a French Physician was the first to coin the word

“Physiology” from two Greek words “physis” meaning nature or origin and

“logos” meaning study. Thus, physiology can be regarded as the study of

nature or origin. Physiology is defined as the study of the functions of the

various parts of the living body and the mechanisms by which the functions

are performed and how they are being regulated.

It is a biological science which aims at describing, explaining and

understanding how normal living things work. An understanding of how the

normal human body works is essential for comprehending the disturbances of

functions caused by disease. It involves the study of all parts of a living

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organism as well as the whole organism, from the simplest form of life to the

most complex. The main goal of physiological studies is to explain the

physical and chemical factors that are responsible for the origin,

development and progression of life.

Divisions of physiology

Human physiology, animal physiology, plant physiology, viral physiology,

bacterial physiology, etc

Branches of physiology

Cell physiology (cytology), Comparative physiology, System physiology,

Exercise physiology etc

FUNCTIONAL ORGANIZATION OF THE HUMAN BODY

In the unicellular organisms, all the physiological processes are carried out

by simple diffusion across the cell membrane. However, because of the

evolutionary and ecological changes over the years, in multicellular organisms

such as man, the cells are organized into tissues (nerves, muscle, blood), and

the tissues are organized into larger units known as organs (e.g kidney, liver,

heart etc). The tissues and organs are further organized into functional

systems such as outlined below:

1. Nervous system: comprised of brain, spinal cord and distributing

nerves

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 2. Integumentary system: this comprises the skin, hair and nails

3. Cardiovascular system: consisting heart and the vessels (veins,

arteries and capillaries)

4. Respiratory system: includes larynx, nasal cavity, trachea, bronchi and

lungs

5. Gastrointestinal system: which includes gastrointestinal tract

(oesophagus, stomach, small intestine, large intestine) and accessory

glands( liver, pancreas)

6. Renal system: consisting of kidneys, the ureters, bladder and urethra.

7. Muscular system: includes the skeletal muscles and their tendons

8. Skeletal system: comprises of bones of the body and their associated

joints

9. Reproductive system: composed of male (testes, seminal vesicles,

prostate, penis, epididymis) and female (uterus, ovaries, vagina)

reproductive systems

10. Endocrine system: formed by the ductless glands- pituitary gland,

thyroid glands, adrenal, parathyroid, endocrine pancreas, testes and

ovaries

Note: the activities of all the cells of the body are coordinated and

regulated by the nervous and the endocrine systems.

the systems are interdependent.

HOMEOSTASIS

Homeostasis refers to the maintenance of constant internal environment of

the body. In 1929, an American physiologist Walter Cannon introduced the

term “homeostasis”( derived from two Greek words ‘homois’ means ‘like’ and

‘stasis’ means ‘standing still’) to describe the phenomenon of the

maintenance of the constancy of the internal environment.

Several examples of homeostatic regulations abound, for instance, regulation

of arterial blood pressure, volume, PH, electrolyte composition, osmolarity,

body temperature, regulation of secretion of hormones by endocrine glands,

regulation of O2 and CO2 concentration in the ECF etc.

Large part of physiology is concerned with the study of the mechanisms by

which various functions are regulated. If I were to summarize everything in

physiology with just one word, I would say ‘homeostasis’. Hence the concept

of homeostasis is now extended to include all bodily responses which

preserve the status quo, e.g the myotatic stretch reflex which seeks to

return a stretched muscle to its original length.

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BODY FLUID COMPARTMENTS

The body water is in two main compartments: the intracellular fluid (ICF)

and the extracellular fluid (ECF) which has a subcompartment called the

transcellular fluid.

About 60% of the total body weight of a healthy adult consists of water.

This means that a physiologic man weighing about 70kg has a total water

content of about 42 litres. Out of this amount, 28 litres is intracellular

(inside the cell), and 14 litres is extracellular (outside the cell). The ECF is

subdivided into plasma (3.5L) in the blood and interstitial fluid (ISF, 10.5 L)

which surrounds the cells of the tissues.

ICF

About 28litres of body water (40% of 70kg) is inside the cell and the

common features of all intracellular fluids are (i) they have similar

electrolytes composition , with K+ and Mg2+ as the principal cations , and

HPO42- and Pr- as the main anions.

ECF

About 14litres (20 % of 70kg) extracellular water, of which 3.5 litres is

plasma and 10.5 litres is interstitial fluid. The ECF surrounds the cells of the

body, providing them with nutrients and oxygen, hormones etc while

removing their waste products, and is the internal environment of the body

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described by Claude Bernard. The ECF is characterized by Na+ as the

dominant cation, and Cl- and HCO3- as the principal anions.

Transcellular fluids

This refers to fluid collections secreted by epithelilal cells such as

alimentary secretions, cerebrospinal fluid, intraocular, pleural, pericardial,

peritoneal and synovial fluids. Although these fluid collections lie outside the

cell membranes and therefore are ‘extracellular’, they have little in common

with the rest of the ECF. They are separated from plasma not only by

capillary endothelial cells, but also by a continuous layer of epithelial cells;

the electrolyte composition is unique to each fluid, and different from that

of the ECF.

EXTRACELLULAR FLUID (ECF) AS THE INTERNAL ENVIRONMENT

In 1878, Claude Bernard, a 19th century French Physiologist, made a

remarkable observation that the volume and composition of the fluid

surrounding the cells of the living body are maintained constant, independent

of the changes in the environment in which the animal lives. He therefore

termed the ECF the “internal environment” (milieu interieur) of the body,

to distinguish it from the environment outside the body. He suggested that

the ability of the multicellular organism to self-regulate the internal

environment is the reason humans and animals, in general, are able to live a

free life in spite of changes imposed by the external environment.

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Operation of Homeostatic Mechanism: Feedback Control System

Feedback is a process in which some proportion of the output signal of the

system is fed (passed) back to the input. This is done more often

intentionally in order to control the behavior pattern of the system.

Whenever any change occurs, system receives and reacts to two types of

feedback:

i. Negative feedback

ii. Positive feedback

Negative feedback is the one in which the system reacts in such a way as to

arrest the change or reverse the direction of change.

In systems controlled by –ve feedback, the effector response decreases or

negates the effect of the original stimulus, maintaining or restoring

homeostasis (thus the term negative feedback).

Negative feedback mechanism is the basis of homeostatic regulation which

normally operates to guard a set point for each regulated variable. A rise in

the variable above the set point inhibits further production of the variable

while a fall below the set point withdraws the inhibition and permits

production of the variable, or triggers mechanisms which increase

production of the variable. Thus, the stimulus for negative feedback control

is a change in the level of the variable; the change triggers a response which

is negative to the stimulus.

increase the intensity of the change in the same direction. Here, the

stimulus progressively increases the response, so that as long as the stimulus

is continued, the response is progressively amplified.

However, control mechanisms do not operate by positive feedback

mechanisms because in a positive feedback, an increase in the variable

provokes further increase. Thus, positive feedback is called vicious cycle

and it is not compatible with life unless it is self terminating.

Positive feedback can sometimes be useful

These are examples of positive feedback which occur normally in life:

 The burst of LH secretion that precedes ovulation (LH surge)

 Blood clotting

 Milk ejection reflex

 Parturition

 Hodgkin’s cycle in generation of nerve action potential

Mechanism of Operation of Negative Feedback Control

The components of –ve feedback control mechanisms include:

i. The detector or sensor

iii. The effector

The sensor: this is a receptor which detects and monitors the level of the

variables, sends signals to control the control centre whenever the variable

rises above the set point, and withdraws the inhibition when the level of the

variable falls. Examples of sensors include the following: osmoreceptors

(monitors the osmolarity of body fluids), baroreceptors (arterial blood

pressure); chemoreceptors (PH of the blood, CO2 and O2).

The modulator: this is located in the central nervous system especially in the

medulla and hypothalamus. They form the control centres that modulate

/coordinate variables.

The effectors: this represents parts of the body that is responsible for the

production of the variables e.g the thyroid gland is the effector for the

production of the thyroid hormones.

Note: it is important to note that priorities exist in homeostatic control.

Generally, responses to life threatening stimuli normally take precedence

over those stimuli that are relatively not life-threatening. Example is in the

regulation of body temperature, which takes precedence over the control of

water content and salt of the body; thus excessive sweating when the body

temperature is raised is permitted even though it is at the mercy of severe

loss of water and salt, and possibly circulatory failure.

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