Introduction

Prepaired by
Jamil Mohanna
Course Outline
 ‫بسم اهلل الرمحن الرحيم‬

Chapter 1

Homeostasis:
The Foundation of Physiology
 Introduction To Physiology
• All the physiological activities we do are a sampling of the processes that
occur in our bodies all the time just to keep us a life.
Physiology: is the study of the function of the human body; “How the body work”.

➢ Physiology focuses on mechanisms of action:

Approaches to explain the events that occur in the body:
(1) Teleological approach:
(1) Emphasizing the purpose of a body process.
(2) In response to the Why? question.
(3) Explain body functions in terms of meeting bodily needs.
(2) Mechanistic approach:
(1) Focus on a mechanistic approach.
(2) Physiologists explain the How? question.
(3) View the body as a machine whose mechanism of action explained in term of
cause and effect sequences of physical and chemical processes.
• Example: Shivering.

➢ Structure and function are inseparable.

• Anatomy: is the study of the structure of the body. Physiological
mechanisms are made possible by the structural design and relationships of
the various body parts that carry out each of these functions.
Levels of Organization in the body

Body
systems
 Levels of Organization in the body
• How the body is structurally organized into a whole functional unit, from the
chemical level to the total body(fig.1-1).
➢ The chemical level: various atoms and molecules make up the body.
• The human body is a combination of various chemicals. O2, C, H and N are the
most common atoms in the body; about 96% of the total body chemistry.
• Atoms form molecules such as proteins, carbohydrates, fats and nucleic acids
(see Appendix B of the text book).
➢ The cellular level: cells are the basic units of life. The cell is the smallest unit
capable of carrying out the processes associated with life.
• The oily plasma membrane encloses the contents of each cell, and control
movement of materials into and out of the cell, so the cell’s interior contains a
different combination of atoms and molecules from the mixture of chemicals in
the surrounding environment.
• Organisms are independent living entities, the single-celled organisms such as
bacteria and amoebae, while the complex multicellular organisms such as trees
and humans.
• Cells are the living building blocks, simpler multicellular forms; (such as a Hydra
or a sponge) may all be similar. However, more complex organisms, such as
humans, have many different kinds of cells e.g. muscle cells, nerve cells.
• During development of complex multicellular organisms such as humans, each
cell differentiates, or becomes specialized to carry out a particular function.
 Basic cell functions
➢ All cells, perform certain basic functions essential for survival of the cell,
include the following:
1. Obtaining food (nutrients) and oxygen(O2) from the surrounding environment.
2. Use nutrients and O2 to provide energy for the cells, as follows:
Food + O2 → CO2 + H2O + energy
3. Eliminating carbon dioxide (CO2) and other by-products, or wastes.
4. Synthesizing proteins and other components need for cellular structure, growth
and carrying out particular cell functions.
5. Controlling to a large extent the exchange of materials between the cell and its
surrounding environments.
6. Moving materials from one part of the cell to another in carrying out cellular
activities, or through their surrounding environment.
7. Being sensitive and responsive to changes in the surrounding environment.
8. In the case of most cells, reproducing except nerve cells and muscle cells.
➢ Specialized cell functions:
– Secretion of synthesized proteins; the gland cells of the digestive system
secrete digestive enzymes.
– The kidney cells are able to selectively retain the substances needed.
– Muscle contraction.
– Nerve cells generate and transmit electrical impulses.
➢The tissue level: tissues are groups of
cells of similar specialization
• Cells of similar structure and specialized function
combine to form tissues, of which there are four
primary types:
• Muscle tissue is composed of cells specialized for
contraction and force generation. There are three
types: skeletal, cardiac and smooth muscles.
• Nervous tissue consists of cells specialized for
initiating and transmitting electrical impulses. It is
found in the central and peripheral nervous system.
• Epithelial tissue is made up of cells specialized
for the specialized for the exchange of materials
between the cell and its environment. It is
organized into epithelial sheets and secretory
glands. Glands are epithelial tissue derivatives that
are specialized for secretion, there are two
categories of glands: exocrine and endocrine.
• Connective tissue connects, supports and
anchors various body parts; include loose
connective tissue, tendons, bone, and blood.
Except for blood, its cells produces elastin protein
whose facilitates stretching and recoiling of tissue.
 ➢The organ level: an organ is a unit made up of
several tissue types
• Organs are composed of two or more types of primary
tissue organized together the perform a particular
function or functions, the stomach is an example of an
organ made up of all four primary tissue types.
➢ The body system level: a body system is a collection
of related organs
• each system is a collection of organs that perform
related functions and interact to accomplish a common
activity that is essential for survival of the whole body.
For example, the digestive system.
• The Human body has eleven systems: (fig. 1-3).
The human body has eleven systems
The human body has eleven systems
 ➢The organism level: The body systems are packaged
together into a functional whole body

• The whole body of a multicellular organism is composed of the various body

systems structurally and functionally linked together as an entity.
• Many complex body processes depend on the interplay among multiple
systems. For example, regulation of blood pressure depends on coordinated
responses among the circulatory, urinary, nervous, and endocrine systems.
• How these different levels word together to maintain life?
 CONCEPT OF HOMEOSTASIS
• Why can’t the body cells live without performing specialized
tasks and being organized according to specialized into
systems that accomplish functions essential for the whole
body’s survival?

• Because the vast majority of cells are not in direct contact with
the external environment in which the organism lives.

• How is it possible for a muscle cell to make vital exchanges

with the external environment with which it has no contact? The
key is the presence of a watery internal environment with
which the body cells are in direct contact and make life-
sustaining exchange.
 Body cells are in contact with a privately
maintained internal environment
• The fluid collectively contained within all of
the cells of the body is known as
intracellular fluid (ICF) and the fluid
outside the cells is referred to as
extracellular fluid (ECF), which made up
of two components: the plasma and the
interstitial fluid.

• Cells can make life-sustaining exchanges

with its own surrounding internal
environment. In turn, various body systems
accomplish the transfer of material
between the external environment and the
internal environment, examples:
Digestive system, Respiratory system
and Urinary system.

• Thus a body cell takes in essential

nutrients from and eliminates wastes into
its watery surroundings, just as an amoeba
does.
 Body systems maintain homeostasis,
a dynamic steady state in the internal environment
• The body cells can live and function only when the extracellular fluid is
compatible with their survival; thus the chemical composition and physical
state of this internal environment must be maintained within narrow limits.
Homeostasis is maintenance of a relatively stable internal environment.
• Homeostasis is essential for the survival of each cell, and each cell, through
its specialized activities, contributes as part of a body system to the
maintenance of the internal environment shared by all cells.
• When any factor starts to move the internal
environment away from optimal conditions,
the body systems initiate appropriate
counteractions to minimize the change.
• External factor: temp. compensated by
shivering, while internal factor:  temp.
compensate by sweating and others.
• Thus homeostasis should be viewed not as a
rigid, fixed state but as a dynamic steady
state in which the changes that do occur are
minimized by compensatory physiological
responses, immediate or in long-term
adaptations e.g. increased blood pressure
during exercise include both of them through
nervous and endocrine system.
 Factors homeostatically regulated

1. Concentration of nutrient molecules.

2. Concentration of O2 and CO2.
3. Concentration of waste products.
4. pH, that affect nerves function and enzymes activity.
5. Concentration of water, salt and electrolytes. Cells do not
function normally when they are swollen or shrunken,
e.g. arrhythmia due to K+ deficiency .
6. Temperature.
7. Volume and pressure.
 Contributions of the body systems to homeostasis
1) The circulatory system.
2) The digestive system.
3) The respiratory system.
4) The urinary system.
5) The skeletal system, provide support and protection. Also serves as a
storage reservoir for calcium (Ca2+).
6) The muscular system, enable an individual to move toward food or
away from harm, and involved in heat regulation via generating heat.
7) The integumentary system, important in the regulation of body
temperature.
8) The immune system, defends against foreign invaders and cancerous
cells.
9) Nervous system, controls and coordinates bodily activities that require
swift responses. It is responsible for higher functions.
10. The endocrine system, regulate activities that require duration rather
than speed, e.g. nutrients concentration, kidney function, internal
environment’s volumes and electrolyte composition.
11) The reproductive system, for perpetuation of the species.

So the body is a coordinated whole even though each system provides its
own special contributions. Also be aware that the functioning whole
is greater than the sum of its separate parts.
 HOMEOSTATIC CONTROL SYSTEMS
• Homeostatic control systems, operate to maintain a given chemical or
physical factor relatively constant around an optimal level.
• To maintain homeostasis, the control system must be able to:
1. Detect deviations from normal within narrow limits.
2. Integrate this information with any other relevant information.
3. Make appropriate adjustments.

➢ Homeostatic control systems may operate locally or body wide

• Homeostatic control systems can be:
– Intrinsic (local) controls built into or are inherent in an organ, e.g. an
exercising skeletal muscle, fall of O2 within the muscle acts directly of
the smooth muscle on the walls of the blood vessels making it dilate,
so increase blood flow and increase O2 supplying to the muscle itself.
Intrinsic controls operate on the principle of feedback.
– Extrinsic controls, which are regulatory mechanisms initiated outside
an organ to alter the activity of the organ, for example; cardiovascular,
nervous and endocrine systems restore elevated blood pressure.
Extrinsic controls operate on the principles of feedback as will as
feedforward mechanisms.
 Negative feedback opposes and initial change and is
widely used to maintain homeostasis

• In negative feedback, change in a homeostatically

controlled factor triggers a response by moving the factor
in the opposite direction of its initial change.
• A common example of negative feedback is control of
room temperature (fig. 1-7).
• With positive feedback, the output is continually
enhanced or amplified so that the controlled variable
continues to be moved in the direction of the initial
change. It is play an important role in certain instances
as in the birth of a baby (by enhancing secretion of
oxytocin hormone).
 Feedforward mechanisms initiate responses in
anticipation of a change

• Feedforward mechanisms, bring about a response in

anticipation of a change in a regulated variable. For example,
when a meal is still in the digestive tract, a feedforward
mechanism increases the secretion of a hormone that will
promote the cellular uptake and storage of ingested nutrients, so,
this response limit the rise in blood nutrient concentration
following absorption.

➢ Disruptions in homeostasis can lead to illness and death:

• When one or more of the body’s systems fail to function properly,
homeostasis is disrupted, and all the cells suffer.
• The term Patho-physiology refers to the abnormal functioning of
the body associated with disease.
 ‫‪The End‬‬
‫احلمد هلل رب العاملني‬
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