Below is the presentation Sidney Buhr, Chapin Galena, Alii Davis and I put together to talk about the lab we put together to prove homeostasis. I hope that this lab is also helpful in teaching others about homeostasis and how it works. As mentioned in my earlier post about Homeostatic Mechanisms. This lab is about a homeostatic mechanism that works to keep body temperature stable and in balance. Enjoy!
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Homeostasis
Homeostasis: The body's maintenance of a stable internal environment.
Word origin: from the Greek: homeo, meaning unchanging + stasis, meaning standing.
Related forms: homeostatic (adjective).
What is homeostasis? And why is it important?
Homeostasis is important because it helps us to maintain the balances that keep us alive. Without homeostasis we wouldn't be able to function in a healthy way, in fact, we wouldn't be alive at all. Homeostasis is in charge of a lot of important functions in our bodies. It is responsible for vital processes like regulating the concentration of blood glucose levels in our blood.
Homeostatic Mechanisms are the self regulating control systems that
help the body to maintain homeostasis. There are a number of different homeostatic mechanisms but they all share these three components:
Receptors- May be a molecule or cell. They provide information about specific conditions in the internal environment.
Control Center- Tells what a particular value in the body should be, the control center includes a set point.
Effectors- Effect change in the body, they are muscles or glands.
This is a picture from the inkling text book that we are using in anatomy class.
This is how a homeostatic mechanism works...
When the receptors find a difference from the set point, the effectors "turn on" and work to return conditions back to normal. As the conditions start to get back to normal the difference from the set point starts to lessen, and the effectors start to shut down. This is called Negative Feedback. It is called negative feedback for two reasons. First, because the difference from the set point is corrected. Second, because it turns off the reactors. This is important because the reactors must be turned off to stop a correction from going too far.
An example of homeostasis and how it works to regulate important processes in our body's is the way it works to regulate our body temperature.
The set point for the temperature of a human body is 98.6 degrees. When the body is exposed to cold temperatures, the body temperature will begin to drop. The hypothalamus in the brain senses this change, and then triggers body processes that will help to keep the body temperature up. For example, the blood vessels in the skin will constrict, which will reduce blood flow and enables the deeper tissues to retain heat. If a person starts to overheat the hypothalamus will also sense this change and start to trigger processes to get rid of the heat. For example, sweat glands on the body will secrete watery perspiration, this water evaporates off the skin taking with it the heat from the body. This cools the skin to lower body temperature and regulate it.
Another picture taken from the inkling text book to show a visual of how the homeostatic mechanism that regulates body temperature works.
Positive Feedback can also be important in homeostasis. Positive Feedback is a process that moves conditions AWAY from the normal state. When a person sustains a cut or injury, chemicals will stimulate more clotting to prevent blood loss. This is very important because blood loss must be stopped to sustain life. Positive Feedback mechanisms are also important in childbirth. It increases the strength of uterine contractions that happen during childbirth.
Obviously homeostasis is important in regulating everyday processes but is also vital in other situations our bodies sometimes face, and without homeostasis we wouldn't be able to keep our body functioning. That's why homeostasis is important.
Word origin: from the Greek: homeo, meaning unchanging + stasis, meaning standing.
Related forms: homeostatic (adjective).
What is homeostasis? And why is it important?
Homeostasis is important because it helps us to maintain the balances that keep us alive. Without homeostasis we wouldn't be able to function in a healthy way, in fact, we wouldn't be alive at all. Homeostasis is in charge of a lot of important functions in our bodies. It is responsible for vital processes like regulating the concentration of blood glucose levels in our blood.
Homeostatic Mechanisms are the self regulating control systems that
help the body to maintain homeostasis. There are a number of different homeostatic mechanisms but they all share these three components:
Receptors- May be a molecule or cell. They provide information about specific conditions in the internal environment.
Control Center- Tells what a particular value in the body should be, the control center includes a set point.
Effectors- Effect change in the body, they are muscles or glands.
This is a picture from the inkling text book that we are using in anatomy class.
This is how a homeostatic mechanism works...
When the receptors find a difference from the set point, the effectors "turn on" and work to return conditions back to normal. As the conditions start to get back to normal the difference from the set point starts to lessen, and the effectors start to shut down. This is called Negative Feedback. It is called negative feedback for two reasons. First, because the difference from the set point is corrected. Second, because it turns off the reactors. This is important because the reactors must be turned off to stop a correction from going too far.
An example of homeostasis and how it works to regulate important processes in our body's is the way it works to regulate our body temperature.
The set point for the temperature of a human body is 98.6 degrees. When the body is exposed to cold temperatures, the body temperature will begin to drop. The hypothalamus in the brain senses this change, and then triggers body processes that will help to keep the body temperature up. For example, the blood vessels in the skin will constrict, which will reduce blood flow and enables the deeper tissues to retain heat. If a person starts to overheat the hypothalamus will also sense this change and start to trigger processes to get rid of the heat. For example, sweat glands on the body will secrete watery perspiration, this water evaporates off the skin taking with it the heat from the body. This cools the skin to lower body temperature and regulate it.
Another picture taken from the inkling text book to show a visual of how the homeostatic mechanism that regulates body temperature works.
Positive Feedback can also be important in homeostasis. Positive Feedback is a process that moves conditions AWAY from the normal state. When a person sustains a cut or injury, chemicals will stimulate more clotting to prevent blood loss. This is very important because blood loss must be stopped to sustain life. Positive Feedback mechanisms are also important in childbirth. It increases the strength of uterine contractions that happen during childbirth.
Obviously homeostasis is important in regulating everyday processes but is also vital in other situations our bodies sometimes face, and without homeostasis we wouldn't be able to keep our body functioning. That's why homeostasis is important.
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