Homeostasis Flashcards
What is homeostasis?
The regulation of a constant internal environment.
What does homeostasis do in humans?
It regulates the blood glucose levels, the body temperature, CO2 levels and water levels.
What is a stimulus?
Information about the environment.
What detects a stimulus?
A receptor.
What is a snyapse?
The gap where the ends of two neurons meet.
What transmits the information from one neuron to the next?
Chemical neurotransmitters.
What does the nervous system do?
Allows a fast, short-lived response to a stimulus in the surroundings.
What is the axon?
A long, stretched out fibre of cytoplasm which the electrical impulse will travel along.
What is the myelin sheath?
A layer of fatty cells that surround some axons.
What does the myelin sheath help do?
Helps to insulate the electrical impulse.
What are dendrites?
Branched endings on neurons that connect the neurons together to create a network.
What is a reflex arc?
The pathway which carries the information about a reflex action.
What is a reflex?
A fast and automatic response to a particular stimulus which may be harmful to the organism.
What are hormones?
Chemical messengers transported in the bloodstream to an effector where they can activate a response.
Where are hormones produced from?
The endocrine system.
What is type 1 diabetes?
A disorder affecting the pancreas.
What happens in type 1 diabetes?
The pancreas does not produce enough insulin to control the blood sugar level.
What is type 2 diabetes?
A disorder of effector cells which no longer respond to the hormones released from the pancreas.
What is testosterone?
The main reproductive hormone in males.
What is the pancreas?
The organ and gland which monitors and regulates the blood glucose concentration.
How is glucagon released?
When the blood glucose concentration becomes too low, a negative feedback loop is triggered and the pancreas releases glucagon.
What does glucagon do?
Acts on the liver and muscles to cause the stored glycogen to be converted back into glucose and released into the bloodstream.
What is glycogen?
Stored glucose.
Name the nervous pathway in order.
Stimulus –> Receptor –> Sensory neuron –> CNS –> Motor neuron –> Effector –> Respnse.
