COMPONENTS OF HOMEOSTATIC CONTROL SYSTEMS

Reflex is a specific, involuntary, unpremeditated, built-in response to a particular

stimulus.
Example: pulling your hand away from a hot object or shutting your eyes as an object
rapidly approaches your a face.
Reflex-arc the pathway mediating a reflex, sequence of events linking a stimulus to a
response









A stimulus is defined as a detectable change in the internal or external environment,
such as a change in temperature, plasma potassium concentration, or blood pressure.
A receptor detects the environmental change. A stimulus acts upon a receptor to
produce a signal that is relayed to an integrating center. The signal travels between
the receptor and the integrating center along the afferent pathway (the general term
afferent means to carry to, in this case, to the integrating center). The information
going from an integrating center to an effector is like a command directing the effector to
alter its activity. This information travels along the efferent pathway (the general term
efferent means to carry away from, in this case, away from the integrating center).










INTEGRATING
CENTER
EXAMPLE


Local Homeostatic Responses
- Another group of biological responses
- These responses are initiated by a change in the external or internal
environment (that is, a stimulus), and they induce an alteration of cell activity
with the net effect of counteracting the stimulus.
- Unlike a reflex, however, the entire sequence occurs only in the area of the
stimulus.
- EXAMPLE:
When cells of a tissue become very metabolically active, they secrete
substances into the interstitial fluid that dilate (widen) local blood vessels.
The resulting increased blood flow increases the rate at which nutrients and
oxygen are delivered to that area, and the rate at which wastes are removed.
- local responses provide individual areas of the body with mechanisms forlocal
self-regulation.

PROCESSES OF THE HOMEOSTATIC CONTROL SYSTEM

Adaptation
- characteristic that favors survival in specific environments.
Ex. Homeostatic control systems which are inherited biological
adaptations.

Acclimatization
o improved functioning of an already existing homeostatic system.
o Improved response when a stimulus is exposed repeatedly

Biological Rhythm
o Many body functions manifest rhythmic changes. Most common
example is the CIRCADIAN RHYTHM which involves
Waking and sleep
Body temperature
Hormone concentrations in the blood
Secretions of ions into the urine
o Are internally driven.
o Environmental factors do not influence the rhythm but rather provide
the timing cues important for entrainment or setting the actual hours of
the rhythm.
ENTRAINMENT setting the actual hours of the rhythm
What does biological rhythm do to homeostatic control system
a. Add an anticipatory component to homeostatic systems as a result
of feedforward system operating without receptors.
b. Enables homeostatic mechanisms to be utilized immediately and
automatically by activating them at times when a challenge is likely
to occur before it actually does occur.

EXAMPLE:
Body temperature increase in a person prior to waking on a typical sleep wake cycle
that is because chemical reactions to some extent dependent to temperature to prepare
the metabolic machinery to operate most effectively during waking hours.

What is the neural basis of body rhythms?
o The hypothalamus, a specific collectionof neurons (the suprachiasmatic
nucleus) functions as the principal pacemaker, or time clock, for circadian
rhythms.
o The pacemaker sends signals to other parts of the brain resulting to activating or
inhibiting functions.
o Other output goes to the pineal gland. Pineal gland secretes melatonin that
may act as an important mediator to influence other organs either directly or by
altering the activity of the parts of the brain that control these organs.