Lecture 1: How do our body systems keep us alive?

Question 1

What is the average turnover of red blood cells?

Answer 1

~120 days

Question 2

What are the 4 basic types of tissue?

Answer 2

Epithelia
Connective tissue
Muscle
Nervous tissue

Question 3

How do cells use ATP?

Answer 3

They “cash it in” to carry out their specific functions.

Question 4

Where does the GI tract start and finish?

Answer 4

Mouth to Anus

Question 5

Where does venous blood from the absorptive part of the GI tract go first and why?

Answer 5

To the liver, to detoxify the blood.

Question 6

What is the cardiovascular system made up of?

Answer 6

The heart and the blood vessels.

Question 7

What is the difference in function between arteries and veins?

Answer 7

Arteries- Pump oxygenated blood away from the heart around the body (with the exception of the pulmonary artery).

Veins- Pump deoxygenated blood from the tissues to the heart.

Question 8

Describe the path of blood through the blood vessels through the body

Answer 8

Heart–>Arteries–>Arterioles–>capillaries–>Venules–Veins–> Back to the heart

Question 9

What happens at the capillary bed?

Answer 9

Nutrients, oxygen, hormones and drugs etc. pass in and out of the cells from the blood through diffusion, though gaps between cells that form the capillary wall.

Question 10

What are alveoli?

Answer 10

Small balloon-like structures that allow oxygen and CO2 exchange with surrounding capillaries by diffusion.

Question 11

How is oxygen transported around the body?

Answer 11

By reversibly binding to haemoglobin within red blood cells which are transported through the blood vessels.

Question 12

What causes anaemia?

Answer 12

Low haemoglobin count, which leads to low oxygen carrying capacity, and can cause breathlessness as a result.

Question 13

What is tissue fluid?

Answer 13

Fluid that is squeezed out of capillaries due to the pressure of blood, and as a result surrounds the tissues in the body.

Question 14

If tissue fluid was left in the tissues, what would it cause?

Answer 14

Swelling of the tissues and reduced blood volume.

Question 15

What are the functions of the lymphatic system?

Answer 15

• To return tissue fluid (lymph) back into the veins of the neck.
• Fights infections

Question 16

What are lymph nodes?

Answer 16

Glands located all around the body that fight infection from infected lymph.

Question 17

What happens to lymph nodes when infection is present?

Answer 17

They swell up and are palpable.

Question 18

Name tissues that form lymphatic tissue and help fight infection?

Answer 18

• Tonsils at the back of the nose, mouth and tongue
• The spleen
• Lymphoid tissue located in the walls of the intestines

Question 19

How are waste products excreted? Name some of these waste products.

Answer 19

• In the faeces (Indigestible foodstuff such as fibre, Cellular debris, GI bacteria, commensals and pathogens)
• In the urine (Digested drugs such as alcohol or other medications), Urea
• In the respiratory tract (CO2)

Question 20

What is the skin’s function?

Answer 20

Physical, waterproof barrier (mainly to keep fluid inside)

Defence against trauma

Defence against UV rays

Question 21

What comprises the Central nervous system?

Answer 21

The brain and spinal cord.

Question 22

What comprises the Peripheral nervous system?

Answer 22

All aspects of the nervous system except the brain and spinal cord.

Question 23

What is the difference between the endocrine system and the nervous system?

Answer 23

The Nervous system acts more quickly in controlling the body processes, The endocrine system acts more slowly.