Physiology of growth Flashcards
What are the 4 phases of growth?
Intrauterine phase
Infancy phase
Early childhood phase
Pubertal phase
Growth in intrauterine phase?
Depends on the genetic constitution of foetus + nutrition and function of the placenta.
Growth in the infancy phase?
First 2-3 years of life driven by nutrition, a continuation of intrauterine life.
Growth in the early childhood phase?
Driven by growth hormones.
What occurs in the pubertal phase?
Driven by both growth hormones and sex hormones.
What period does growth end?
Puberty
Which structures continue to grow until adulthood?
Skin, hair and nails.
What are the mechanisms of cellular growth?
Hyerplasia: increase in cell number
Hypertrophy: increase in cell size
Volume of intracellular fluid increase.
Which parts of the body do not generate new cells?
Nerve cells and muscle cells; they last for most of the lifetime
Which tissues of the body are replaced by new cells?
Skin, GI lining and blood cells because they contain a germinative zone (for blood cells, this is in the bone marrow.)
Which components are relatively stable in cell numbers?
Glands, Parts of the liver and kidney if tissue is damaged or requires increase in activity.
What is development?
A series of co-ordinated events where the complexity of an organism increases due to maturation of the nervous system, most rapid in childhood.
What influences growth and development?
Genetics determine overall height and pattern+ timing of growth spurts. Environmental influences have a lesser effect such as diet and socioeconomic factors.
What is apoptosis?
Programmed cell death and removal
What occurs in apoptosis foetal development?
Removal of webs between fingers
Formation of hollow organs such as the heart
Tissues with high cell turnover
What is the process of apoptosis?
Cell shrinks and chromatin condenses, cytoskeleton collapses, plasma membrane fragmentation occurs and nuclear DNA disintegrates.
Which pathway is involved in apoptosis?
Intrinsic pathway and extrinsic pathway
What is the intrinsic pathway of apoptosis?
Mitochondria-dependent pathway in response to lethal stimuli such as oxidative damage, regulated by anti-apoptotic proteins BCL-2. It is activated by the p53 protein and capsases.
What is the extrinisc pathway of apoptosis?
Involves transmembrane activation with death ligand to death receptors part of the TNF family (tumour necrosis factor). Capsases are important for cell breakdown in this pathway
What period of foetal growth is fastest?
16-20 weeks gestation where new proteins are laid down by cell division.
What is the peak of foetal weight gain?
Reaches peak at 34 weeks gestation in third trimester, where it eventually slows down.
What is the patterns of growth in adolescence?
In pre-natal and pre-pubertal stages, gender has a minimal impact on growth, which deviates at age 10 where girls achieve a greater velocity of growth that peaks at 13 and steadily declines. Boys achieve a peak at age 16 which then declines.
Sex hormones like androgens have an anabolic effect
What is the patterns of growth in the body tissues?
Lymphoid tissue grows and reaches peak velocity of growth rate around puberty
Steady growth which plateaus after age 3
Reproductive tissue has a steady growth with rapid increase in late teens
What is senescence?
Physical growth ceases but physiological changes continue to occur and at a molecular level, this leads to death, therefore impairing the ability of the elderly to regulate homeostatic functions.
What are the CNS changes in aging?
Impaired co-ordination, memory and intellectual function.
What are the circulatory changes in aging?
Reduced blood flow increases risk of atherosclerosis.
Reduced lung elasticity decreases lung function.
What are the GI changes in aging?
Decrease in muscle tone involved in GI tract, reducing peristaltic action and increasing the risk of constipation/