FEEDBACK MECHANISMS

Homeostasis: A Balancing Act

Homeostasis is the physiological consistency of the body despite external fluctuations. All complex multicellular
organisms maintain a stable internal environment using their organ systems.
Homeostasis in a general sense refers to stability, balance or equilibrium. It is the body's attempt to maintain a constant
internal environment. Maintaining a stable internal environment requires constant monitoring and adjustments as
conditions change. The adjustment of physiological systems within the body is called homeostatic regulation

The homeostatic control has three components:

I. A receptor (sense organ) to detect a change
II. A center of control (the brain or the spinal cord) that will process and integrate what is happening
III. An effector (muscle cells or organs/ glands) to produce a response appropriate to the change.

There are ways of communication among these components (basically through the nervous and endocrine control).

When a change of variable occurs, there are two main types of feedback to which the system reacts:
1. Negative feedback: a reaction in which the system responds in such a way as to reverse the direction of change.
I. Thermoregulation
II. Carbon dioxide concentration
III. Blood sugar level
2. Positive feedback: a response is occurs to amplify the change in the variable. (This has a destabilizing effect, so does
not result in homeostasis. Positive feedback is less common in naturally occurring systems than negative feedback, but it
has its applications.)
I. For example, in nerves, a threshold electric potential triggers the generation of a much larger action potential.
II. Blood clotting
III. Events in childbirth

WORKSHEET 15
Describe the homeostatic control of the following:
I. blood glucose level
II. temperature regulation
III. water and salt balance
IV. carbon dioxide concentration