HOMEOSTASIS

This is defined as the maintenance of a constant internal environment.

This is how the body functions to control the conditions within it constant. For example:

• Blood glucose levels – Both low and high levels of glucose in the blood are potentially fatal.

• Body temperature – is maintained at a fairly constant 37 degrees centigrade – mainly to ensure

optimum temp for enzymes to work best, and to prevent cell damage.

• Water content of body – osmoregulation – all chemical reactions occur in a water medium, it is
used as a transport medium (blood) etc.

The mechanism used to control levels of substances in the body is called negative feedback.

Feedback – as information is constantly fed back to receptors in the body that monitor levels
Negative – the body stops what it is doing, and does the opposite

This is very similar to the way a thermostat works in your house to heat up water.
Body temperature

Body temperature is also controlled by negative feedback, and involves feedback of information to the
hypothalamus in the brain that constantly monitors the temperature of the blood flowing through it.

When the body is too hot

SUMMARY

when the body is too hot erector

muscles relax so the hairs fall on the skin.
Sweat evaporates from the skin. Arterioles
contribute the capillaries, giving more
blood to the capillaries.
It loses heat when blood is bringing to the
surface capillaries.
It produces more sweat when the arteriole
contributes the sweat gland and brings
more blood.

When the body is too cold

When the body is too cold

SUMMARY

When the body is too cold the upright

hairs catch a surface of warm air, so the
Arterioles in the skin compress, the blood
doesn't pass through them.
The hairs stand on end because the
erector muscles contract.

Use this information to explain how a nose-bleed can be stopped by placing a cold towel over the nose.
Questions:

1. How do animals in very cold climates keep warm, or maintain their body temperature fairly constant?
They generate their heat internally. by increasing the solute concentration within the cell, the freezing point increases
and, therefore, cells and tissues are protected at subzero temperatures.

2. Explain why smaller animals would loose heat more quickly than larger ones. Think about SA / Volume
ratio
Smaller animals have a larger surface to volume ratio compared to larger ones. This means they lose heat
at a much quicker rate because they have a larger body surface area in relation to their body mass.

3. List the ways our bodies may lose heat.

i) Convection

ii) Evaporation

iii) Radiation

4. Explain the importance of a constant body temperature:

• Enzymes Enzymes are essential for digestion, liver function. Extreme high temperatures can cause
an enzyme to lose its shape and stop working.

• Cell membranes Increasing temperature makes the membrane more unstable and very fluid. Temperatures
that are too high or too low can seriously damage.