Human Physiology Flashcards
~Hydra
● Cnidarians
● Digestion occurs in the gastrovascular cavity with only one opening
● Cells of the gastrodermis secrete digestive enzymes into the cavity for extracellular digestion
● Some specialized nutritive cells have flagella that move the food around the cavity
● Some have pseudopods that engulf food particles
~Gastrodermis
● lining of the gastrovascular cavity in hydra
● Secrete digestivve enzymes into the cavity for extracellular digestion
~Earthworm
● THe digestive tract is a long, straight tube
● The mouth ingests decaying organic matter along with soil
● From the mouth, food moves to the esophagus and then to the crop
● The gizzards grinds up the food
● THe rest of the digestive tract consists of the intestines where chemical digestion and absorption occur
● Absorption is enhanced by the presence of typhlosole
~Crop
Where food is stored in earthworms
~Gizzard
● Posterior to the crop
● COnsists of thick, muscular walls
● Grinds up the food with the help of sand and soil that were ingested along with the organic matter
~Typhlosole
● Large fold in the upper surface of the intestine in earthworms
● Increases the surface area
~Grasshopper
● Has a digestive tract that consists of a long tube consisting of a crop and gizzard
● Has a specialized mouth parts for tasting, biting and crushing food
● Has a gizzard htat contains plates
● The idgestive tract is also responsible for removing nitrogenous waste from the animal (uric acid)
~Plates
● Made of chitin
● Help in grinding the food
~Digestion
● Breaking down large food molecules into smaller usable molecules
~Absorption
● Diffusion of these smaller molecules in the body’s cells
~Smooth (involuntary) muscle
● Made up the digestive tract
● Pushes the food along the digestive tract by peristalsis
~Human digestive system
● Two important functions: digestion and absorption
● About 30 feet (9m) long
~Salivary amylase
● Released by salivary glands
● Begins hte chemical breakdown of starch
~Esophagus
● Food is directed into the esophagus, not windpipe
● No digestion occurs here
~Epiglottis
● A flap of cartilage in the back of the pharynx (throat)
~Stomach
● Churns food mechanically and secrete gastric juice
● Contains rennin
~Gastric juice
● Begins the digestion of proteins
~Gastric pits
● Contained in the lining of the stomach
● Lined with three types of cells, chief cells, parietal cells and the cell that secretes mucus
~Chief cells
● Secrete pepsinogen, the inactive form of pepsin htat becomes activated by acid
~Parietal cells
● Secrete the hydrochloric acid that keeps the pH of gastric juices at 2-3 and activates pepsinogen
● HCl also kills ingested microorganisms and breaks down protein
~Mucus
● Produced by the third type of gastric pits
● Protects the stomach linign from the two cell-digesting substances
~Rennin
● In stomach of all mammals
● Aid in the digestion of the protein in milk
~Lower esophageal sphincter
● At the top of the stomach
● Keeps food int he stomach from backing up into the esophagus and burning it
~Pyloric sphincter
● At the bottom of the stomach
● Keeps hte food in the stomach long enough to be digested
~Ulcer
● Excessive acid can cause an ulcer to form in the esophagus, the stomach or the duodenum
● A common cause is a particular bacerium, Helicobacter pylori, which can be effectively treated with antibiotics
~Duodenum
● Digestion is completed here
● Intestinal enzymes and pancreatic amylases hydrolyze starch and glycogen into maltose
● Bile is released and peptidases, necleases and lipases continued to break polymers into monomers
~Bile
● Proudced in the liver and stored in the gallbladder
● Released into the small intestine as needed and acts as an emulsifier to break down fats, creating greater surface area for digestive enzymes
~Peptidases
● Such as trypsin and chymotropsin
● Continue to bereak down proteins
~Nucleases
● Nucleic acis are hydrolyzed by nucleases
~Lipases
● Break down fats
~Lower part of small intestine
● Once digestion is complete, the lower part of the small intestine is the site of absorption
● Villi are present
~Villi
● Millions of fingerlike projections absorb all the nutrients that were previously released from digested food
● Each villus contains capillaries, which absorb amino acis, vitamins, and monosacchraides, and a lacteal, a small vessel of the lymphtic system, which absorbs fatty acids and glycerol
● contains microvilli
~Microvilli
● Each epithelial cell of the villus has many microscopic cytoplasmic appendages called microvilli that greatly increase the rate of nutritnet absorption by the villi
~Large intestion/colon
● Serves three main functions: egestion, vitamin production, and removal of excess water
~Egestion
● The removal of undigested waste
~Vitamin production
● From bacteria symbionts living in the colon
~Removal of excess water
● The samll intestine and colon reabsorb 90% of the water that entered the alimentary canal
● If too much water is removed from the intestine, constipation results
● IF inadequate water is removed, diarrhea results
~Rectum
● The last 7-8 inches (18-20 cm) of the gastrointestinal tract
● Stores feces until their release
~Anus
● The opening at the end of the digestive tract
~Gastrin
● Site of production: stomach wall
● Effect: stimulates sustained secretion of gastric juice
~Secretin
● Site of production: duodenum wall
● Effect: stimulates pancreas to release bicarbonate to neutralize acid in duodenum
~Cholecystokinin (CCK)
● Site of production: duodenum wall
● Effect: stimulates pancreas to release pancreatic enzymes and gall bladder to release bile into small intestine
~Respiration
● Exchange of respiratory gases, oxygen, and carbon dioxide, between the external environment and the cell or body
● Occurs passively by diffusion
● Respiratory surfaces must be thin, be moist and have large surface areas
~Gas exchange in simple animals (sponges and hydra)
● Gas exchange occurs over the entire surface of the organism wherever cells are in direct contact with the environment
~Gas exchange in earthworms and flatworms
● External respiratory surface bcause diffusion of oxygen and carbon dioxide occurs at the skin
● Oxygen is carried by hemoglobin dissolved in blood
~Gass exchange in arthropods and crustaceans
● Internal respiratory surface
● Air enters the body through spiracles and travels through a system of tracheal tubes into the body, hwere diffusion occurs in sinuses or hemocoels
● in arthropods and in some mollusks, oxygen is carried by hemocyanin
~Hemocyanin
● Oxygen carrier in arthropods and some mmollusks
● Molecule similar to hemoglobin but with copper instead of iron as its core atom
~Gas exchange in aquatic animals
● Countercurrent exchange to maximize hte diffusion of respiratory gases
~Gas exchange in human
● Air enters the nasal cavity and is moistened, warmed, and filtered
● Air paases through the larynx and down the trachea and bronchi into the tiniest bronchioles which end in microsopic air sacs called alveoli where diffusion of respiratory gases occurs
● Internal respiratory surface
~Medulla
● In the brain
● Contains the breathing control center, and sets the rhythm of breathing and monitors CO2 level int he blod by sensing changes in pH of hte blood
~Chemoreceptors
● Located in the nodes of neural tissue in teh aorta and carotid arteries leaving the heart
● If O2 level drop dratically, these receptors become activated and send nerve impulses to the medulla
~Hemoglobin
● Oxygen is carried in the human blood by the respiratory pigement
● Can combine loosely with four oxygen molecules, forming the molecule oxyhemoglobin
● Allosteric molecule and exhibits cooperativity
● Sensitive to pH
~Cooperativity
● Once one hemoglobin subunit binds to one oxygen molecule, it undergoes a shape chagne and binds more easily to the remaining three oxgyen molecules
~Dissociation curve of two mammals, one has higher metabolism
● The one that has higher metablolism, its body cells have a correspondingly higher oxygen requirment
● The accomodate hte animal\s oxygen needs, the organism’s hemoglobin has a dissociation curve located to the right of the other’s hemoglobin
● Higher metabolism = drops off O2 at cells more easily than lower metabolism
~Dissociation curve of fetal and maternal
● Fetal hemoglobin has a higher affinity fro oxygen than adult hemoglobin so it can take oxyn from the maternal hemoglobin
● The curve of fetal hemoglobin does not have the S shape common to the other curves
- It bonds to each oxygen atom with the same ease; there is no cooperativity
~Dissociation curve of high altitudes mammals vs sea level mammals
● Since less oxygen is available at high altitudes, mammals that evolved thier must have hemoglobin with a greater affinity for oxygen
~Saturation-dissociation curves
● The further to the right hte curve is, the less afinity the hemoglobin has for oxygen
~Transport of CO2
● Very little is transported by hemoglobin
● Most CO2 is carried in the plasma as part of the reversible blood buggering carbonic-acid-bicarbonate ion system, which maintians the blood at a constant pH 7.4
~Bicarbonate ion
● Produced in a two-stage reaction
● First, CO2 combines with H2O to form carbonic acid (H2CO3)
- This reaction is catalyzed by carbonic acid anhydrase found in red blood cells
● Then carbonic acid dissociates into a bicarbonate ion and proton
- THe protons can be given up into the plasma, which lowers the blood pH, or taken up by the bicarbonate ion, which raises the blood pH
~Ciruculation in primitive animals (sponge and hydra)
● no circulatory systems
● All their cells are in direct ocntact with the environment, and such as sytem is unnecessary
~Circulation in earthworm
● Closed circulatory system where blood is pumped by the heart through arteries, veins and capillaries
● Oxygen is carried by hemoglobin that is dissolved in the blood
~Circulation in arthropods
● Opencirculatory system
● After blood is pumped by the heart into an artery, it leaves the vessels and seeps through saces called sinuses or hemocoels as it feeds body cells
● The blood then moves back into a vein and circulates back to the heart
● This sytem lacks capillaries
● Arthropod blood is colorless and does not carry oxygen
~Human circulation
● Closed circulatory system with arteries, veins and capitallaries
~Plama
● Liquid portion of the blood
● Contains clotting factors, hormones, antibodies, dissolved gases, nutrients, and wastes
● Maintain proper osmotic potential of blood, 300 mosm/L
~Red Blood Cell
● Erythrocytes
● Carry hemoglobin and oxygen
● Do not have a nucleus and live only about 120 days
● Formed in the bone marrow and recycled in the liver
~White Blood Cell
● Leukocytes
● Fight infection and are formed in the bone marrow
● Die fighting infection and are one component of pus
● One type of leukocyte–the B lynphcyte–produces antibodies
~Platelets
● Thrombocytes
● These are not cellsbut cell fragments that are formed in the bone marrow from megakaryocytes
● Clot blood
~Stem cells
● Multipotent cells that are fomed by bone marrow
● These keep dividing and constatnly replenish the pouplation of blood cells throughout a person’s life
~Mechanism of blood clotting
● Begins with the release of clotting factors from platelets and damaged tissue
● Activation of inactive plasma proteins
● Anticlotting factors normally circulate in the plasma to prevent the formation of a clot or thrombus, which can cause serious damage in the absence of injurty
~Artery and arteriole
● Function: carry blood away from the heart under enormous pressues
● Structure: walls made of thick, elastic, smooth muscle
~Vein and venule
● Function: carry blood back to the heart under very little pressue
● Structure: thin walls have valves to help prevent back flow
- Located within skeletal muscle, which propels blood upward and back to heart as the body moves
~Capillary
● Function: allows for diffusion of nutrients and wastes between cells and blood
● Structure: walls are one-cell thick and so small that blood cells travel in single file
~Heart
● located beneath the sternum and is about the size of a clenched fist
● Beats about 70 beats per minute and pumps baout 5 quarts (5L) of blood per minute or the total volume of blood in the body each minute
~Atria
● Two atria in the heart receive blood from the body cells
~Ventricles
● Two ventricles pump blood out of the heart
~Cardiac muscle cells
● Individual cells have the ability to contract even when removed from the heart
~Sinoatrial (SA) node
● Pacemaker of the heart
● Sets hte timing of the contractions of th heart
● Located in the wall of the rihgt atrium
● Generates and sends eletrcal signals to the atrioventricular (AV) node
● Action potention is generated by voltage-gated Ca channels
~His and Purkinje fibers
● From the pacemaker, impulses are sent to the bundle of His and Purkinje fibers, which trigger the ventricles to contract
~Electrocardiogram (EKG)
● Electrical impulses travel through the cardiac and body tissues to the skin, hwere they can be detected by an EKG
~Blood pressure
● lowest in the veins
● Highest in the arteries whent eh ventricles contract
● All normal, resting adults is 120/80
~Systolic number (120)
● Measurement of hte pressure when teh ventricles contract
~Diastolic number
● Measurement of the pressure when the heart relaxes
~Renal circulation
● Circulation in kidneys
~Croronary circulation
● Circulation in the heart
~Hepatic circulation
● Circulation in liver
~Pulmonary circulation
● Incluses pulmonary artery, lungs, and pulmonary vein
~Chemical signals
● Endocrine system secrets hormones
● Nervous system secretes neurotransmitters
● Even though the two systems are seaprate, there is overlap between them, and together they work to regulate the body
~Epinephrine/adrenaline
● Functions as the fight-or-flight hormone secreted by the adrenal gland as well as a neurotransmitter that sneds a messgae from one neuron to another
● Speeds up the heart rate
● Increases blood glucose levels by increasing rate of glycogen breakdown by liver
● Gland: Adrenal medulla
~Hormones
● Produced in ductless (endocrine) glands and move through the blood to a specific target cell, tissue, or organ that can be far from the original endocrine gland
● Can roduce an immediate short-lived response (adrenaline/epinephrine)
● Can dramatically alter the development of an entire organism (ecdysone)
~Ecdysone
● Controls metamorphossi in insects
~Tropic hormones
● Far-reaching effect because they stimulate other glands to release hormones
● TSH (thyroid-stimulating hormone)
~Thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH)
● Stimulates the thyroid to release thyroxin
~Pheromones
● Carry a message between different individuals of the same species
~Nitric oxide (NO)
● In vertebrates, this gas is produced by one cell and diffuses to and affectes only neighboring cells before it is broken down
~Growthn hormone (GH)
● Gland: Anterior pituitary
● Effect: Stimulates growth of bones
~Luteinizing hormone (LH)
● Gland: Anterior pituitary
● Effect: Stimulates ovaries and testes to release follicle/sperm production
~Adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH)
● Gland: Anterior pituitary
● Effect: Stimulates adrenal cortex to secrete glucocorticois (to regulate blood sugar)
~Follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH)
● Gland: Anterior pituitary
● Effect: Stimulates gonads to produce sperm and ova (grow and mature follicles)
~Prolactin
● Gland: Anterior pituitary
● Effect: Stimulates mammary glands to produce milk