BMSC 207 MIDTERM Flashcards
What is the definition of physiology?
Physiology: The study of the normal functioning of a living organism and its component parts including all its chemical and physical processes.
What is the level of organization for the body?
Top to bottom is small to big
- Cells: Smallest unit of structure capable of carrying out life processes
- Tissue: Collection of cells carrying out related functions (usually the same type of cells)
- Organ: Formation of tissues into a structural and functional unit
- Organ system: Integrated groups of organs
What is an emergent property?
- Emergent properties: Properties of a complex system that cannot be explained by a knowledge of a systems individual components (ex. Emotion cannot be explained simply by individual nerve cells)
What is the definition of homeostasis?
- Homeostasis: The ability to maintain a relatively stable internal environment despite exposure to external variability
- Homeo = Like or similar (range of values)
- Homo = same
- Stasis = Condition (not a static state)
What is the law of mass balance?
Law of mass balance: If the amount of a substance in the body is to remain constant, any gain must be offset by an equal loss (ex. Water in body)
What is the principle of the dynamic steady state?
- Dynamic Steady State: The idea that materials are constantly moving back and forth
What is the difference between function and mechanism?
Distinction between function and mechanism:
- Function: ‘why’ is considered teleological approach
- Ex. Why do RBC transport O2: Because cells need O2 and RBC bring it to them.
- Mechanism: ‘how’ is considered mechanistic approach
- Ex. How do RBC transport O2: O2 binds to Hemoglobin molecules in the RBC
What is the Extracellular fluid?
ECF: Is a buffer between the cells and the external environment
What is the intracellular fluid?
ICF: The fluid present within the interior of the cell.
What is local control?
Local control: The control of a small area and is restricted to the tissues or cells involved
What is reflex control?
Reflex control: Uses long distance signalling - Any long distance pathway that uses nervous, endocrine or both
- Causes systematic changes in body. But does not kick in until it senses the stimulus is out of range
- Uses feedback loops.
What is a negative feedback loop? Is it homeostatic or not?
Negative feedback loop:
- Pathway where the response shuts off/ removes the stimulus is negative feedback.
- It IS HOMEOSTATIC
- ex. Blood Glucose level (both increased and decreased)
What is a positive feedback loop? Is it homeostatic or not?
Positive feedback loops:
- NOT HOMEOSTATIC
- Reinforce a stimulus rather than trying to turn it off.
- requires intervention outside the loop to cease the response.
- Ex. Childbirth/labor
What is feedforward control?
Feed forward control:
- A few reflexes have evolved that allow the body to predict a change is about to occur
- Ex. Salivating before eating
What are biorhythms?
- Biorhythms are variables that change predictably and create repeating patterns or cycles of change Ex. Circadian rhythm
- may create an anticipatory response to predictable environment changes.
What is a set point?
Set point: ‘Normal’ value for accepted criteria (ex. Body temp)
What are the functions of membranes in the body?
- Physical isolation: barrier cell and environment and between ECF and ICF
- Regulation of change with environment: controls entry and exit and elimination.
- Communication between the cell and its environment: certain proteins allow for responding and interaction with external enviro.
- Structural support: proteins in membrane are used to connect cells and anchor to cytoskeleton.
What is the average composition of membranes?
Average composition of a membrane is: 55% proteins, 45% lipids, small amount of carbs.
- Membranes have different compositions: the more active the membrane the higher it’s protein content.
What are the 3 types of lipids in the membrane? What % do they account for?
- Phospholipids: most abundant lipid component in cell membrane 50%
- Sphingolipids: Lipid anchored proteins commonly attached to them 30%
- Cholesterol: Positioned between phospholipid heads to add flexibility and help make membrane impermeable to small water soluble molecules 20%
How does the membrane display hydrophobic forces?
They are amphipathic.
What are integral membrane proteins? What are the functions of integral membrane proteins?
Integral proteins:
- include transmembrane and lipid anchored proteins.
Integral membrane proteins: help with membrane receptors, cell adhesion molecules, transmembrane movement (channels, carriers, etc), Enzymes, and mediators of intracellular signalling.
What are lipid anchored proteins?
Lipid anchored proteins link directly to fatty acid, and have an external GPI anchor (sugar phosphate chain)
What are peripheral proteins? What are the functions of peripheral proteins?
Peripheral proteins:
- attach to integral proteins, OR loosely attach to phospholipid head.
Peripheral proteins: participate in intracellular signalling, and form sub membrane ours cytoskeleton.
What is a lipid raft?
Lipid rafts: planar lipid raft - elevated because sphingolipids are longer than phospholipids
- Caveolae: often associated with endocytosis
- Commonly contain proteins
What are the two types of membrane carbohydrates?
- Glycoproteins and glycolipids: Cell to cell interactions and forms protective coat called glycocalyx
What is the seperaton of body fluid compartments in the body?
- ICF = 2/3 of total body water volume
- ECF = 1/3 total body water volume (consists of interstitial fluid 75% and blood plasma 25%)
- 42kg of 70kg is water
- 60% of the body is water
- Women have lower water percentage because they have more adipose tissue
What is the difference between adipose ad skeletal tissue?
- Adipose tissue - contains very little water volume. (Fat cells)
- Skeletal muscle - 75% water 18% protein
What is osmosis?
Osmosis: Movement of water in response to a conc’n gradient. (Low - High solute concentration, pretty much freely between compartments - Uses Aquaporin channels)
What is osmotic equilibrium?
- Extracellular and intracellular compartments are in osmotic equilibrium - fluid conc’n is equal
- Osmotic equilibrium does not equal chemical or electrical equilibrium
What is Osmolarity?
Osmolarity: Number of particles in solution. NOT MOLARITY
molarity(mol/L) x particles/molecule (osmosis/mol)
= Osmolarity (osmol/L)
What is tonicity?
Tonicity: Describes the visual change in how a solution affects cell volume when cell is placed in solution and is allowed to come to equilibrium (uses isotonic, hypertonic, hypotonic to describe this change)
What is the difference between Osmolarity and tonicity?
- Osmolarity = # of solute particles - compares two solutions
- Tonicity has no units - Depends on the concentration of non-penetrating solutes. Compares solution and a cell
What is the difference between Osmolarity and osmolality?
- Osmolarity = osmoles per litre of solution
- Osmolality = osmoles per kg of solvent
What is diffusion?
Diffusion: Area off high concentration too an area of low concentration
- No outside energy source
- Continues until concentrations reach equilibrium
When does diffusion speed up and slow down?
- Diffusion gets faster when: Along higher concentration gradients, Over shorter distances, At higher temperatures, For smaller molecules, Increased surface area
- Diffusion gets slower When: Lipid solubility varies, Molecule size, increased cholesterol = lower diffusion
What are channel proteins?
Channel Proteins: Made of membranes spanning protein subunits. Move smaller substances extremely fast
- Can be:
- Open: leak channels (gate always open)
- Gated channels: normally closed (needs stimulus) Can be - chemically gated, voltage gated, or mechanically gated
- Selectivity determined by: size of pore and charge of AA lining pore.
What are carrier proteins?
Carrier proteins: Large complex proteins that change conformation to move molecules.
- Slower (1000-1000000 per sec)
- Can move small organic molecules that cannot pass through channels.
- Can be: Uniport (one type of substance), Symport (two/more molecules the same direction), Antiport (move substrates in opposite directions)
What is facilitated diffusion?
Facilitated diffusion: uses channels or carrier proteins
- moves down gradient, is passive, and stops once equilibrium is reached
- sometimes cell will change molecule composition to maintain concentration gradient in order to continue bringing more into the cell.
What is active transport?
Active transport: Molecules against their concentration gradient - low to high concentration (requires energy and uses carriers)
What is primary active transport?
- Primary Active transport: Energy to move molecules comes from ATP
- ex. Na/K ATPase: 3Na out, 2K in
What is secondary active transport?
- Secondary active transport: Uses potential energy from concentration gradient one one molecule to slingshot another molecule against gradient.
- often uses sodium. Ex. Sodium glucose transporter
What is the difference between competition and saturation in transporter binding?
Competition: Carrier may have more than one substance to bind and substances compete for spots.
Saturation: Rate of transport depends on concentration and number of transporters.
What is Phagocytosis?
- Phagocytosis: Creates vesicles using cytoskeleton (Uses ATP)
What is endocytosis?
Endocytosis: Differs from phagocytosis because there is no cytoskeleton movement and vesicles are much smaller. (Also uses ATP)
What is pinocytosis? And what is receptor mediated transport?
Pinocytosis: Allows ECF to enter - Nonselective
Receptor mediated transport: Selective process
What is exocytosis?
Exocytosis: Vessicles connect with cell membrane and release contents to outside.
- can be continuous or intermittent
What is epithelial transport?
Epithelial Transport: Substances moving in and out of the body or moving between compartments.
- Apical and basolateral membranes have different properties
- Lumen to ECF = Absorption
- ECF to lumen = Secretion
What is the difference between transcellular, paracellular, and transcytosis epithelial transport?
- Transcelluar: Across epithelial cell (requires energy)
- Paracellular: Between tight junctions
- Transcytosis: Compartments, Congo of Endo, expo, Phago (requires energy)
What is the membrane potential?
Membrane potential: The electrical disequilibrium between ICF and ECF is called membrane potential difference or membrane potential (Vm)
What is the equilibrium potential?
Equilibrium potential: Membrane potential that exactly opposes the concentration gradient is known as the equilibrium potential. (Eion, ex. Ek or Ena)
- For K: When the concentration gradient is 150mV intracellular lay and 5mV Extracellular, the Ek is -90mV
What is the resting membrane potential?
Resting membrane potential: the membrane potential of a cell when it is not active it is usually around -70mV in cells
- Cell membrane is 40 times more permeable to K then Na
What is the function of the Na/K ATPase
Na-K ATPase:
- Sets up concentration gradient that determines membrane potential.
- Ensures that the concentration gradients are maintained for cell function to be continued.
What are the factors that influence membrane potential?
- Concentration gradients of ions in membrane: changes in gradient result in alteration of membrane potential (applies to leak channel ions)
- Permeability of membrane to ions with a concentration gradient (opening gated channels)
What is the difference between Afferent and efferent in the nervous system?
- Afferent: Carry’s info to The CNS
- Efferent: info away From CNS
What are the cells of the nervous system?
-Neurons: Basic signalling unit of nervous system
- Glia: Support cells
- Cell body: control centre, contains nucleus
- Dendrites: receive info from other cells
- Axon: carry signals from integrating centre to target cells
- Presynaptic terminals: contain transmitting signals.
What are the different types of neurons?
Neurons:
- Afferent: sensory - Carry info about temperatures, pressure, light/ stimuli TOO CNS
- Interneurons: complex branching Neurons facilitate communication
- Efferent: Motor - controls skeletal muscles, Autonomic - Influences internal organs (sympathetic and parasympathetic)
- Nerves: Bundles of peripheral Neurons. Can be efferent, Afferent, or mixed.
What is axonal transport? What is the difference between anterograde and retrograde?
Axonal transport: Axon is specialized to convey chemical and electrical signals that require a variety of different types of proteins
- Anterograde: Cell body to presynaptic terminal
- Retrograde: Presynaptic terminal to cell body