3.

4 HOMEOSTASIS IN HUMANS

Necessity of maintaining optimal physics and chemical conditions in the internal environment
Is the extracellular fluid that bathed the cells of

multicellular organisms The internal physical and chemical environment must be regulated and maintained at a balanced equilibrium This is to ensure that the body cells could function efficiently and the physiological processes could proceed at optimum rate The regulation of physical and chemical factors of internal environment is known as homeostasis whereby a negative feedback mechanism is involved

Internal environment

Physical factors -Temperature -Blood pressure

Chemical factors -Partial pressure of oxygen and carbon dioxide -Osmotic pressure -Sugar level

Changes in blood osmotic pressure to urine output

The amount of urine output is actually related to

the amount of water in the blood of the blood osmotic pressure The more the amount of water in the blood, the lower the blood osmotic pressure The less the amount of water in the blood, the higher the blood osmotic pressure

Hot shining day Our body loses water through sweating The amount of water in the blood is low, the blood osmotic pressure increase More water reabsorbed into the blood by the kidneys The amount of urine eliminated decreases

Cold rainy day Our body not loses water through sweating The amount of water in the blood is high, the blood osmotic pressure decrease Less water reabsorbed into the blood by the kidneys The amount of urine eliminated increases

Structure of the kidneys and their function

The kidneys are the organ of excretion and

osmoregulation
Excretion is the removal of the metabolites that

have exceeded a critical concentration and the waste products of metabolism out of the body Osmoregulation is the control of and the regulation of the volume and composition of body fluid
Situated in the dorsal wall of the abdomen The tissues in kidney divided into outer cortex

and inner medulla

 The excretory unit is tubular unit called nephron

and each kidney consist of about one million nephrons Eevery nephron composed of:
Bowmans capsule II. Proximal convoluted tubule III. Loop of Henle IV. Distal convoluted tubule V. Collecting duct VI. Glomerulus and a network of capillaries
I.

Human excretory system

Formation of urine
The formation of urine involves three processes:
Ultrafiltration Reabsorption secretion

Ultrafiltration
Occurs at glomerulus The high hydrostatic pressure in the glomerulus

causes many constituents of the blood to be filtered out from the glomerulus into Bowmans capsule The filtrate called glomerulur filtrate The characteristics of glomerulur filtrate:
Has similar composition as the blood plasma except that

it does not contain larger components such as RBC and plasma protein Composed of water, urea, glucose, amino acids, vitamins and salts
The glomerular filtrate then passes along nephon to

let reabsorption occur

Reabsorption
When the glomerulur filtrate reaches the proximal

convoluted tubule, 65% of the water is reabsorbed to the blood capillaries by osmosis All glucose, amino acids, vitamins and some salts are reabsorbed by active transport. Urea is not reabsorbed The filtrate now contains only water, some salts and urea

 It continue to pass along the loop of Henle where

20% of the water and some salts are reabsorbed into the blood capillaries The filtrate continue to pass through the distal convulated tubule and collecting duct whereby some water and salts are reabsorbed into the blood capillaries The amount of water and salts reabsorbed is actually regulated or controlled by the endocrine system. Ex: amount of ADH and aldosterone

Secretion
This process involves the pumping out of the waste

products from the blood capillaries into tubules Nitrogenous products such as urea, uric acids, ammonia and creatinine are pumped out by active transport Some drugs and toxic substances are secreted by simple diffusion The glomerular filtrate that reaches the collecting duct is called urine It composed of 96% water, 2.5% nitrogenous products and 1.5% salts and other trace elements Urine is channel out of the collecting duct into pelvis, then out of the kidney into the bladder ureter and finally excreted out of the body through urethra

Osmoregulation
Is a process of regulating salts and water balance

in the body to maintain the blood osmotic pressure The amount of water and salts in the blood determines the blood osmotic pressure
The more the amount of water in the blood, the

lower the blood osmotic pressure The less the amount of water in the blood, the higher the blood osmotic pressure

Mechanism of osmoregulation

Consequence of impaired kidney function

If the kidney fail to function as an excretory organ

or as an osmoregulation organ:
Metabolic waste cannot be excreted Blood osmotic pressure cannot be regulated Tissue fluid osmotic balance cannot be maintened

The patient with kidney failure could be treated

by:
Haemodialysis Kidney donation or kidney transplant

Haemodialysis
Is a process whereby a dialysis machine to

remove metabolic waste such as excess water, urea and excess salts from blood The producer is expensive, inconvenient and takes long time (6-10 hours and 3 times a week) How does a dialysis machine work?

Kidney donation and kidney transplant

Another alternative of treating kidney

With successful transplant, the person may expert

to live for several years A suitable kidney donor is needed. A healthy donor may donate one of his kidney since another healthy kidney could function as an organ osmoregulation The failed kidney has to be removed from the patient and replaced

What are the major problems persist in this treatment?

Immunological rejection- the patients immune

system may rejected the grafted kidney The availability of kidneys- the numbers of patient on the waiting list

Regulation of blood sugar level

Regulation of body temperature

Regulation of blood pressure

Must be kept within a certain range for

normal metabolic needs If the pressure is too high, organs may be damaged If the pressure is too low, organs may not function

Concept of homeostasis
Is the process where the internal environment is

maintained in spite of the changing environment To maintain homeostasis, both the nervous system and the endocrine system are involved in internal communication If the communication is by nerve impulses, the effectors that bring about corrective response are the muscles and glands Is the communication is by hormone, the effectors that bring about corrective response are target organ