Module 1.5 Flashcards
What is homeostasis
The maintenance of the body’s relatively stable environment
What are feedback loops
A homeostatic control mechanism in which a change in a regulated variable causes effects that feed back and affect that same variable
List and briefly describe each part of a feedback loop
The receptor is a structure that receives a stimulus and sends information to a control center, the control center is a structure that determines if the variable is in a normal range and signals information to the effector, lastly the effector is the structure that actually changes variable of some kind of action.
What is a negative feedback loop
It’s response to a change in the variable that causes the variable to move back in the opposite direction. Fables in the body have a set point in a normal range that the body can safely operate it and if they’re too high or too low the feedback loop would lower or raise it.
What is an example of a negative feedback loop in the body
Lowering body temperature. For example when you get hot the stimulus is receptors in your brain and that sends the signal to different brain cells that are the control center. They stimulate the factors which are sweat glands and blood vessels to lower body temperature.
What are positive feedback loops
A type of feedback loop in which the effect there’s activity increases reinforcing the initial stimulus and amplifying the response of the effector
Give an example of a positive feedback loop and how it is used in the body
An example is childbirth. Stimulator like the baby’s head stretching the service cause the brain to signal the uterus to produce oxytocin that stimulates contractions. The contractions cause more stimulus in the cycle to be continued at a more rapid pace.
How are structure and function related in the body
Form follows function. The structures in the body are specifically to provide the functions. For example lung tissue is thin to allow gases to pass through so our cells can get oxygen and bones are hard to support us.
What is a gradient in the body
A condition in which more of something exists in one area than in another and the two areas are connected
What are the three types of gradients
Temperature gradient concentration gradient and pressure gradient
Why is cell to cell communication important and essential
For the body to function, cells have to communicate with each other. They can communicate with electrical or chemical signals, and they allow us to respond to our environment and have control of our body.
Give an example of cell to cell communication
A nerve cell releases a chemical messenger in a space near a muscle cell and the chemical triggers are response in the muscle cell that makes it contract.
