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UPDATED TO 2023-2025 SYLLABUS

CAIE IGCSE
BIOLOGY
SUMMARIZED NOTES ON THE THEORY SYLLABUS
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CAIE IGCSE BIOLOGY

1. Coordination and Response

1.1. Mammalian Nervous System
The mammalian nervous system consists of two parts:
Central Nervous System (CNS) consists of the brain
and spinal cord, which are the areas of coordination.
Peripheral Nervous System (PNS) comprises nerves
and neurones, which coordinate and regulate body
functions.
Electrical impulses travel through the neurones.
The nervous system helps with the coordination and Relay Neurone (Interneurone)
regulation of body functions.
The middleman inside the CNS connects sensory to
1.2. Types of Neurones motor neurones.

Nerve Impulse: an electrical signal that passes along the

nerve cells called neurones
Axons: Ensure less time is wasted when the impulse is
transferred from one neurone to another
Dendrites: Extensions which form a network for easy
communication.

Motor Neurone
Carry impulses from the CNS to effectors (muscles or
the glands)

1.3. Simple Reflex Arc

Reflex Action: automatically and rapidly integrates and
coordinates the stimuli with the responses of effectors
(muscles and glands).

Sensory Neurone
Carry impulses from the sense organs (sensory
receptors) to the CNS.

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CAIE IGCSE BIOLOGY
Synapse: a junction between two neurones, consisting of a
E.g. quickly removing your hand from the hot metal gap across which impulses pass by diffusion of a
surface neurotransmitter
They involve three neurones: a sensory neurone, a relay
neurone and a motor neurone.
The gap between neurones is called a synapse.
How the simple reflex arc works:
A stimulus affects a receptor (cell or organ that
converts a stimulus into an electrical impulse)
A sensory neurone carries impulses from the
receptor to the CNS (spinal cord)
Connector/relay neurone carries impulse slowly
(because it has no myelin sheath) across the spinal
cord
The motor neurone carries impulses from the CNS to
the effector
The effector (either a muscle or a gland) carries out
The synapses ensure that impulses travel in one
the response
direction only.
Synaptic cleft: the small gap between each pair of
neurones
Inside the neurone’s axon, there are 100s of tiny
vacuoles (vesicles, each containing a chemical called
neurotransmitter)
When an impulse arrives, the vesicles move to the cell
membrane and empty their content into the synaptic
cleft.
The neurotransmitter quickly diffuses across the tiny gap
and attaches to receptor molecules in the cell membrane
of the relay neurone.
1.4. Synapse This can happen because the neurotransmitter
molecules' shape complements the receptor shape.

1.5. Sense Organs

Sense Organ: groups of receptor cells responding to specific
stimuli: light, sound, touch, temperature, and chemicals.

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CAIE IGCSE BIOLOGY

The way the lens brings about fine focusing is called

accommodation
The lens is elastic, and its shape can be changed when
the suspensory ligaments attached to it become tight
or loose
The contraction or relaxation of the ciliary muscles
brings about the changes
Near Object Distant Object
Ciliary muscles Contract Relax
Suspensory Ligaments Slack Tighten
Lens Short and fat Long and thin

Cornea: refracts light

Iris: controls how much light enters the pupil
Lens: focuses light onto the retina
Retina: contains light receptors, some sensitive to light
of different colours (Rods and cones)
Optic nerves: carry impulses to the brain
Pupil: A hole which allows light to enter

1.6. Pupil Reflex

Example Past Year Question

Explain why a person cannot focus on distant objects if
the suspensory ligaments become permanently
overstretched. (0610/42/F/M/23)

1. ciliary muscles relax

2. suspensory ligaments can no longer become tight
3. the lens is not stretched/remains wide
4. the angle of refraction remains unchanged

Adjusting for high and low light intensity 1.8. Rods and Cones
An involuntary response
Rods Cones
Provide low detail, black & white images, Provide detailed, coloured images; they work in
Low Light Intensity High Light Intensity suitable for seeing in low-intensity light (at
Radial Muscles Contract Relax night). high light intensity.
Circular Muscles Relax Contract Packed most tightly around the edge of the Most tightly packed at the retina's centre,
Pupil Size Wide Narrow retina, so you can see things most clearly when objects are seen most clearly when directly
not looking directly at them. looking at them.
Amount of Light Entering More Less

1.7. Accommodation
Accommodation: Adjusting for near and distant objects.

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CAIE IGCSE BIOLOGY
Gland Hormone Function
Fovea: Adrenal gland
Pancreas
Adrenaline
Insulin
Prepares the body for vigorous action
Reduces the concentration of glucose in the blood
Part of the retina where the receptor cells are pushed Testes Testosterone Causes the development of male sexual characteristics
most closely together Ovary Oestrogen Causes the development of female sexual characteristics
Pancreas Glucagon Increases concentration of glucose in the blood
Where light is focused when you look straight at an
object
Distribution of Rods and Cones 1.10. Homeostasis
More rod cells than cone cells
A number of cone cells peaked in the middle, Homeostasis: The maintenance of a constant internal
showing the location of the fovea. No rod cells are environment.
present in the peak. Insulin decreases blood glucose concentration.
No rod and cone cells at the blind spot, as the optic The concept of homeostatic control by negative feedback
nerve is located there. \n with reference to a set point

Negative Feedback Concept

Negative Feedback: controls the production of hormones
and regulates their own production

A negative feedback control is when the change in

hormone level acts as a signal to cancel out that change,
so when the blood hormone level is low, hormone
production is stimulated; when it is high, it is inhibited.

1.11. Nervous and Hormonal Control

1.9. Hormones Comparison Nervous system Endocrine system
Speed of action Very rapid Can be slow
Electrical impulses travelling Chemical messengers (hormones)
Hormones: A chemical substance produced by a gland and Nature of message along nerves travelling in the bloodstream
Duration of response Usually within seconds It may take years (puberty)
carried by the blood, altering the activity of one or more Localized response (only one Widespread response (in many
Area of response
specific target organs. Example of process-
area usually) organs)
Development of the reproductive
controlled Reflexes such as blinking system
Endocrine Glands
1.12. Homeostasis: Blood Glucose
adrenal glands and adrenaline
pancreas and insulin Control
testes and testosterone
ovaries and oestrogen Blood glucose levels are monitored and controlled by the
pancreas
Adrenaline The pancreas produces and releases different hormones
depending on the blood glucose level
A hormone secreted by the adrenal gland. Insulin is released when blood glucose levels are high –
It increases pulse rate, heart rate and pupil diameter. the liver stores excess glucose as glycogen
Increases blood glucose concentration for respiration. Glucagon is released when blood glucose levels are low –
Adrenaline is secreted, for example, bungee jumping or the liver converts stored glycogen into glucose and
riding a rollercoaster. releases it into the blood

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CAIE IGCSE BIOLOGY

When the control of blood glucose does not work, a

person is said to have diabetes Temperature Regulation by The Skin
Type 1 Diabetes Regulation is controlled by the brain which contains
thermoreceptors (sensitive to the temperature of the
Type 1 Diabetes: caused by the death of the cells that blood)
secrete insulin. The skin also has thermoreceptors and sends nervous
Symptoms: hyperglycaemia (feeling unwell, dry mouth, impulses to the brain via sensory neurones
blurred vision, and thirsty) or hypoglycaemia (tired, The brain responds to this information by sending nerve
showing confusion and irrational behaviour) impulses to the motor neurones, then to the effectors in
Treatment: eating little and often and avoiding large the skin to maintain the temperature within a narrow
amounts of carbohydrates, injecting insulin to reduce range of the optimum, 37°C
blood glucose concentration Fatty tissue under the dermis acts as a layer of insulation
to prevent too much body heat from being lost through
the skin
1.13. Homeostasis: Temperature
Regulation
Control of body temperature is a homeostatic mechanism

The human body maintains the temperature at which

enzymes work best, around 37°C
If body temperature increases over this temperature,
enzymes will denature and become less effective at
catalysing reactions such as respiration

The Structure of the Skin

Vasoconstriction and Vasodilation

Vasoconstriction: blood flow in capillaries slows down
because arterioles leading to the skin capillaries get
narrower when we are cold.

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CAIE IGCSE BIOLOGY

This reduces the amount of heat lost from the blood by Auxins’ role in phototropism:
radiation as less blood flows through the surface of the If the sun shines on the right side of a plant’s shoot,
skin auxins accumulate on the dark opposite left side.
Auxins accumulating makes cells on the left side grow
Vasodilation: blood flow in capillaries increases because faster than cells on the right.
blood vessels to the skin capillaries get wider when we are When the left side of the shoot starts growing faster
hot. than the right side, the shoot will start to bend to the
This cools the body as blood (which carries heat around right side towards sunlight.
the body) flows at a faster rate through the skin’s surface
and so more heat is lost by radiation

1.14. Tropic Responses

Auxin:
Plant hormones or growth substances
Controls tropisms
It is produced by cells at the tip of the roots and
shoots of plants

Gravitropism: a response in which a plant grows towards

(positive) or away (negative) from gravity.
Auxins’ role in gravitropism:
Made in the shoot tip
Then, it diffuses through the plant from the shoot tip
Auxin is unequally distributed in response to light
and gravity
Auxin stimulates cell elongation

Phototropism: a response in which a plant grows towards

(positive) or away (negative) from the direction light is
coming.

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CAIE IGCSE
Biology

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