SB7 - Animal Coordination, Control and Homeostasis ✓ Flashcards
SB7a - What are hormones?
- Hormones are chemical messengers (carried in the blood stream).
- They are used in the hormonal response system which is typically slow-acting and long-lasting compared to the nervous system
SB7a - Where are hormones released? (Give examples)
Endocrine glands e.g:
- Pituitary gland
- Thyroid gland
- Adrenals
- Ovaries
- Testes
- Pancreas
SB7a - Where do hormones go to? (Give examples)
Target organs e.g:
- Digestive system
- Kidneys
- Liver
- Endocrine glands for other hormones (e.g growth hormone)
SB7b - What is your metabolic rate?
The rate at which energy stored as food is transferred by all of the reactions that take place in your body
SB7b - How do you measure resting metabolic rate?
- At a warm room
- Body at rest
- Long after the person has had a meal
SB7b - What is a negative feedback system?
A response to an increase in one condition by causing actions that will decrease it, or vice versa (e.g response to body being too hot is to sweat to cool it down)
SB7b - Define homeostasis
Maintaining constant conditions in the body, typically through negative feedback
SB7b - What is thyroxine?
- Thyroxine is a hormone that is released by the thyroid gland.
- It’s target organs are many different types of cells of which it will increase the rate at which protein and carbohydrates are broken down.
- This affects your metabolic rate
SB7b - How is thyroxine used as part of a negative feedback system?
- If the concentration of thyroxine in the blood is low, the hypothalamus may release TRH
- This will cause the pituitary gland to release TSH
- This stimulates the thyroid gland to release thyroxine, increasing the concentration of thyroxine
SB7b - How does your body’s fight or flight system work?
- Adrenaline is released from adrenal glands and is always in the bloodstream at a low level
- A fight or flight situation will cause increased impulses from neurons which will trigger the release of large amounts of adrenaline into your blood
- Adrenaline has many target organs:
- Causes the breakdown of glycogen to glucose in the liver so that there is more for cellular respiration (more energy)
- Heart contracts more rapidly and strongly increasing the heart rate and blood pressure. This moves glucose around the body quicker
- Diameter of blood vessels leading to muscles or target organs are widened to allow more blood through while the rest are narrowed to allow more to be sent to the widened vessels
SB7g - What is thermoregulation?
The negative feedback system that ensures our body stays at around 37°C
SB7g - What is fever/hypothermia and why is it bad?
- Fever is when your body is above 38°C
- Hypothermia is when your body is below 36°C
- These are bad because the enzymes that enact most of the processes in our body that keep us alive have an optimum temperature of 37°C
- So straying too far from it will stop these processes from occurring (properly) as enzymes can become denatured/ineffective
SB7g - How does the brain detect the temperature of the body?
- In the dermis of the skin, there are temperature receptors
- These feed information to the receptors in the hypothalamus in the brain
SB7g - When the body is too cold, what will happen?
- Shivering: Muscles rapidly contract and expand. Some of the energy released form cell respiration warms you up
- Vasoconstriction: Nerve signals from the hypothalamus tell the blood vessels near the surface of the skin (in the dermis) will narrow. This reduces thermal energy lost to surroundings as blood flows past
- Erector muscles contract: Erector muscles in the dermis of the skin contract causing hair to stand upright. While it may not work for humans, on other mammals it traps air next t the skin for insulation
SB7g - When the body is too warm, what will happen?
- Sweating: Your body secretes a thin layer of sweat on the epidermis of your skin. When this evaporates, it transfers energy from the body to the surroundings
- Vasodilation: Nerve signals from the hypothalamus tell the blood vessels in the dermis widen. As more blood flows near the surface of the skin, more energy is transferred to the surroundings
- Erector muscles relax: Hair lies flat meaning no air can be trapped and reducing the insulation (again it doesn’t make a difference for humans)
SB7h - What is osmoregulation?
- The negative feedback system involving the balance of water and minerals in the body.
- The wrong balance will result in cells taking in the wrong amounts through osmosis and being damaged
SB7h - Describe how to urinary system works
- The urinary system removes excess amounts of substances from the blood inc. water mineral salts and urea
- Renal arteries carry blood from the body to the kidney.
- Once it is ‘cleaned’ renal veins carry the blood to the rest of the body
- The kidneys remove excess substances from the blood to form urine
- Ureters carry urine to the bladder where it is stored
- Once the muscle keeping the bladder closed is released, the urine passes through the urethra to outside the body
SB7h - What is kidney failure and why is it dangerous?
- Kidney failure is when both of the kidneys stop working properly
- This means that there will be high concentration of waste products in their blood which will need to be removed by dialysis