Lecture 1 Flashcards
What is physiology?
Study of:
- purposeful interactions of matter energy and fields in a living system
- interactions are functional
- dynamic - movement in an organised way
- flow requires control and regulation
Example were ‘flow’ occurs in the living body
- Pulmonary system
- Cardiovascular system
- GI system (e.g. if too fast, can suffer from diahorrea, if too slow, can suffer from constipation)
- renal system
etc
Explain how flow is used in the pulmonary system? Why is flow needed? Does it overlap with other system? Where does flow occur?
o Enable Respiratory Gas Flow
o Supply of O2 /Removal CO2 matched to Physiological Demand
o Flows through Trachea - Bronchial Tree to Alveoli
o Transfer Matched to Cardiovascular Flow
o Increased Demand - Increased Flow
How to measure disease and disturbance to pulmonary flow? How is healthy flow determined?
o Lung Capacity (Volume)
o Peak Expiratory Flow Rate
o Airway Resistance
How can these indicate disease (flow - pulmonary system)
o Lung Capacity (Volume) decrease
o Peak Expiratory Flow Rate decrease
o Airway Resistance increase
What do drugs commonly want to improve?
Flow
Capacity
Explain how flow is used in the cardiovascular system
o Supply of O2 /Removal CO2
o Supply of Nutrients supporting Metabolism /Growth/Renewal - Removal of Waste Products
o Flow/Supply matched to Physiological Demand
o Flows Heart /Lungs - Arteries – Arterioles – Capillaries –Venules –Veins
o NB – Pulmonary Flow matched to Cardiovascular Flow
o Increased Demand - Increased Flow
How can you measure flow in cardiovascular system?
o Electrocardiogram (ECG) - Pump o Heart Rate x Stroke Volume = Cardiac Output o Blood Pressure o Blood Biochemistry (Cholesterol + Flow Factors)
Examples of disturbance to normal cardiovascular flow
Coronary heart disease - heart’s blood supply is blocked or interrupted by a build-up fatty substances in coronary arteries
What have of these systems got to do with cell physiology?
- Huge range of Membrane Transporters/Channels selectively regulating flow
- Nerve Action Potential precise spatio-temporal control of Na+ /K+ current - electrochemical flow
Connection between potential energy and kinetic energy
(blank)
Potential energy - what is this?
- Energy in ‘Stored Form’
- Can be Released and Harnessed to Perform ‘Work’ • It is called ‘Potential’ because it is not being used
- Body has huge reserves of PE re
Kinetic energy - what is this?
- Called ‘Kinetic’ as it is associated with Movement
- Energy made into movement of matter– considered as ‘Work’
- Body continually utilises and directs KE in a highly controlled way
Give some examples (some from this list) of potential energy in physiological systems
- PE stored in Chemical Bonds – Energy Released in Reaction
- PE in the ~Pi bond in ATP universally used as currency for delivery of Energy
- PE in Concentration Gradients across Cell Membranes
- PE in Electrochemical Gradients - 1 Generates Membrane Potential
- PE in Electrochemical Gradients - 2 The PE Source for 2o Active Transport
- PE in Electric Fields – ‘Action at a Distance’ on Voltage Sensitive Proteins
- ‘Elastic PE’ – Held in Molecular Structures For Release as Mechanical Energy
- The release of PE needs to match the demand for KE – Again Flow Control
Give some examples (some from this list) of Kinetic energy
- Chemical Bond -> Thermal Energy from exothermic reactions -> Random Brownian Motion (‘disorganised’ flow)
- Chemical Gradient -> Molecular Movement across Membrane
- Electrochemical Energy Gradient - 1 -> Current Flow across Membrane
- Electrochemical Energy - 2 -> Current Flow + Co-Transport secondary Active Transport
- Electrical Field -> Field Movement + Conformational Changes
- Elastic Energy -> Mechanical Energy
- > Conformational Changes -> Macromolecular Movement
Chemical bond PE can lead to KE due to heat being released
PE: Concentration gradient across membrane
KE: Diffusion of molecules across membrane
What is the correct name for the ‘sodium postassium pump’
Na+/K+ ATPase
How is the Na+/K+ ATPase involved in potential energy and kinetic energy…?
• Na+ /K+ ATPase is an enzyme coupled transporter at the heart of Cell Energetics.
• At rest uses 30-35% of Cellular ATP
• Uses Chemical Bond PE in ATP - enables conformational change in ATPase (Chemical Bond
-> Elastic Energy -> Mechanical Energy)
• Carries 3 Na+ out / 2K+ into the Cell
• This is Electrogenic - contributes to an Electrochemical Gradient across the Cell
• E. Chem. Gradients –V. important PE Source
• E.Chem. Gradients have an associated Electric Field – a further source of PE
• Electric Fields allow ‘Action at a Distance’
Electrochemical gradient PE and Electrochemical current flow KE
Electrical field PE -> Ions move KE
How can potential energy be added to a molecular structure?
‘Elastic’ Energy Stored in ‘Stressed Molecular’ Structure
• Proteins ability to switch between conformational shape underpins much function.
• Potential Energy added by phosphorylation ~ Pi to add ‘Elastic PE’ to attain new higher energy conformational state
• Elastic energy is released as Mechanical Movement when it ‘springs back’ to the lower energy conformation.
• Property underpins PE storage in proteins
Elastic energy (PE) -> Mechanical energy (KE)
How is physiology classified?
Characterised by the close control of the flow and interplay of work and information
How does pharmocology link to physiology?
Pharmacology studies defined effect of signalling molecules on physiological and biochemical work activity of cells right up through to the level of the person
Clinical pharmacology is based on proper understanding of endogenous signalling molecules and their cellular targets
Signalling molecule classification?
- Endogenous (within the body – our reference signalling molecules)
- Exogenous I – Natural (plant based – e.g. morphine, aspirin, antibiotics, anticancer)
- Exogenous II – Synthetic (Man made - many thousands of compounds)
Therapeutics definition
- the branch of medicine concerned with the treatment of disease and the action of remedial agents.
- a treatment, therapy, or drug.
What are the main extracellular signalling groups?
o Endocrine
o Paracrine
o Autocrine
• Characterised by distance/volume over which signalling molecules act
• Overlap between categories sites of action
All these processes work in….
…work in synchrony
Extracellular Signalling Molecules 1: Endocrine system (produced by… time they act… act where?… what must be the case for an action to occur… what is endocrine system involved in…)
• Endocrine system – glands produce hormones act as signalling molecules
• Typically act over long distances/throughout whole body ( upto +1m )
• More than 100 known endocrine hormones as signalling molecules in humans
• For an action cells need to express receptors/binding sites – many specific target types
• Major regulation of body function via neuroendocrine system
o Digestion
o Metabolism/Respiration
o Growth – Development
o Behaviours - Sexual - Stress Response
Extracellular Signalling Molecules 1: Endocrine system (where secreted… talk about potency… timescale of action… feedback…)
- Secreted into blood stream : ‘Global’ signal route - circulation to whole body
- Highly potent - picomolar to nanomolar range (10-12 M to 10-9 M)* More potent = the lower the conc of it is needed to have an effect
- Timescale of action ranges from seconds to months (molecule/receptor dependent)
- In health - synthesis release and degradation well controlled - subject to tight feedback control (see MEH Unit Semester 2)
- Close interaction synchrony and integration between endocrine signalling is key e.g. controlling ovulation or blood sugar (insulin/glucagon)
Endocrine system - What are the major types of signalling molecules
• Hydrophilic 1 - Amines
Amino acid derivatives (amino acids but modified groups) – small charged hydrophilic with Receptors in Plasma Membrane
Hydrophilic - can’t get through the membrane
e.g. Norepinephrine
• Hydrophilic 2 - Peptide hormone and Proteins hormones.
Peptide hormone:
Short chain of linked amino acids, e.g. Insulin 51 amino acid residues around 5.8 kDa (kDa - measure of weight) with Receptors in Plasma Membrane
Protein hormone:
Long chains of linked amino acids e.g Human Growth Hormone has 191 amino acid residues
Hydrophillic - can’t get through the membrane
• Lipophilic – Steroids
Common derivation from cholesterol Receptors are Intracellular
e.g. cholesterol and testosterone
Properties of the different types of endocrine signalling molecules (amines, peptides and proteins, steroids)
- solubility
- feedback regulating synthesis
- Plasma half-life
- receptor location
- mechanism of action
Extracellular signalling 2 - Paracrine signalling (scale of the signalling
Paracrine Signalling Molecules
• Signalling ‘extent’: Signalling coupled from cell to cell - or cells within nearby volume
• Scale of signalling: Communication scale is much lower than endocrine, 10-2 to 10-8 (1cm to ≈10 nm)
• Paracrine signalling molecules released into extracellular environment
• Induce changes in receptor cells - specific behavior / differentiation
Examples
• Very wide set of signalling molecules - ICPP cover specific examples
• Focus on Neurotransmitters - neurone to neuron - ICPP Session 08
Neurotransmitters are examples of _______ signalling
Paracrine signalling
Extracellular signalling 2: Paracrine Signalling Molecules
Neurotransmitters
- occurs over…
- direction…
- distance…
- trasmission time… (the amount of time from the beginning until the end of a message transmission)
- Tight coupling of signalling molecule transmission over synapse
- Synapse is highly specialised + controlled extracellular space
- One way transmission of signal
- Electrochemical– chemical signal conversion/coupling
- Chemical signal release is proportional to presynaptic electrical field
- Distance approximately 20 nm
- Transmission time is in msecs (very short)
How many types of neurotransmiiter singalling molecules are there?
About 100 types, different classifications of them
Paracrine signalling molecules - major groups
- Monoamines
- Amino acids
- Acetylcholine
Meaning of excitatory and inhibitory
- Excitatory - signal increase firing rate post synaptically
- Inhibitory - signal decrease firing rate post synaptically
3 main groups of neurotransmitters, what specific types of neurotransmitters are in these groups, what is there signalling function
Name of where drugs act…
Drug target (commonly at a receptor)
Endogenous signalling molecules…
- ‘Engineered’ via Evolution to carry and transfer signal
- ‘OptimaI Fit’ for the Job
- Endogenous Signallers are Agonists*
*There are few endogenous antagonists
These are the natural signalling molecules, e.g. like a baton in a relay race