3.6.4 Homeostasis Flashcards
What is homeostasis?
Maintenance of a stable internal environment despite varying conditions in the external environment
What do homeostatic systems involve ?
Sensing systems involving various types of receptors. Control systems that may be use either the nervous sytem or endocrine system or both. Effector systems that respond to keep the internal environment within narrow limits, keeping the environment in a state of dynamic equilibrium
What is a negative feedback mechanism?
The mechanism that restores the level back to normal. It maintains systems within narrow limits. It only works within certain limits
Why do chemoreceptors detect a drop in blood pH during exercise?
More CO2 is produced by respiration. This reacts with water to form carbonic acid (the enzyme carbonic anhydrase speeds this up) which then dissociates to release H+ ions that decrease blood pH.
What is a typical human response to high body termperture (hyperthermia)
Sweating, flushed skin as blood flow to capillaries in the skin increases. Hairs on body lie flat
What is a typical human response to low body termperture (hypothermia)
Shivering, paler skin as blood flow is diverted away from skin. Hair on body stand up (nb. This reponse doesn’t do much in humans but does in other mammals with more hair)
What is a positive feedback mechanism?
Amplifies the change from the normal level. It does not keep the internal environment stable so is not involved in homeostasis
Give examples of positive feedback used in biology
- Childbirth, where contractions stimulate oxytocin release, which stimulates stronger contractions. 2 Fever, where the temperature increases in response to infection. Both responses will ultimately finish when the initiating stimulus dissapears (eg due to birth or destruction of pathogen)
Compare the hormonal and nervous system
Hormonal control - chemical transmission via blood, slower acting, blood carries the hormones to all cells but only target cells can respond, widespread and long lived response. The nervous system is faster, using electrical impulses (action potentials) and generally provides a short lived and targetted response
What is a hormone?
Chemical messengers that are released from glands and travel in the blood
How are hormones secreted ?
When a gland is stimulated. Glands can be stimulated by a change in concentration of a specific substance or by electrical impulses