Introduction

Chapter 1; Atlas A
 Anatomy and Physiology
• Anatomy: the study of organism structure.

• Physiology: the study of organism function.

 Characteristics of organisms:
• Organization
• Cellular composition
• Biochemical unity
• Metabolism
• Responsiveness
• Homeostasis
• Development
• Reproduction
• Evolution
 Characteristics of life:
• 1: organization

– Living things are highly organized relative to

their surroundings.
• Hence the name, organisms.
 2: cellular composition:

The cell is the basic unit of life,

the simplest unit that can
survive on its own.

All living things are made up of

one or more cells.

Organisms are:
– Unicellular or Multicellular
– Prokaryotic or Eukaryotic
Figure 3.3
Diversity of cell structures: humans are composed of about
210 distinct cell types.
 3: Biochemical unity:
All living things are water based and
made up of the same types of chemicals.

• Organic • Inorganic
– Contain both C and H – Do not contain both C and H
– Water
• Macromolecules: – Ions and minerals
– DNA
– Proteins
– Lipids
– Carbohydrates
Metabolism: the sum of all the chemical
reactions in the body.

Metabolism is divided into two inter-related processes:

– Catabolism: breaking down relatively complex molecules into

simpler ones .
• Yields energy

– Anabolism: building larger, more complex molecules from

smaller, simpler ones.
• Requires energy

energy coupling between catabolism and anabolism allows life to

exist.
 Responsiveness
• The ability to detect and respond to stimuli.
– Stimulus: a change in the environment that
triggers a response.

– Stimuli can be internal or external.

• Responses include:
– Behavior.
– Homeostasis (see next slide).
– Physiological plasticity.
 Homeostasis
• Maintenance of relatively constant internal
conditions despite large fluctuations in the
environment.
 Homeostasis: illustration

• The control systems are the nervous and endocrine

systems

External environment

Internal environment

Large
Control Small
external
systems internal
fluctuations
fluctuations

ANIMAL Cells of
body
 Homeostatically maintained
variables
• Temperature
• Ion concentrations
• pH
• Nutrient levels in body fluids and in storage
• Gases
 Requirements for homeostasis
• Receptor: detects stimulus.
– Signal transmission
• Integrator: interprets stimulus.
– Signal transmission
• Effector: carries out response.
 Maintenance of internal
conditions
• Feedback loops.

– Negative feedback loop: maintains relatively

constant conditions.

– Positive feedback loop: magnifies change.

Figure 1.11
 Plasticity

• An individual can change over time in

response to environmental conditions.
• Identical twins (genetically identical
individuals) can differ based on
environment.
– Diet and exercise, learning, responses to injury,
etc. can cause observable changes in structure
and function.
 Reproduction
• Production of new individual:

– Sexual : genetic information from two

individuals; offspring has a new combination of
genetic information.
– Asexual: offspring is genetically identical to
parent.
 Development
• Any change in form or function over the lifetime of an
organism.

• Two components:

• Growth: increase in size.

– Cell division- single celled egg and sperm to multicellular
adult.
• Differentiation: process by which cells that are not
specialized for any particular task (stem cells) become
cells with a particular function (muscle cells, nerve
cells, etc.).
• Single cells fuse to
form a zygote. Egg
cell

ovary

Middle Neck
piece Head
Plasma membrane

Tail

Mitochondrion
(spiral shape)
Nucleus
Acrosome
• The zygote
undergoes
cleavage to form ZYGOTE 2 cells

an embryonic
stage called the
blastula. 4 cells

8 cells

Blastocoel

Many cells
(solid ball)

BLASTULA Cross section

(hollow ball) of blastula
CO 1
 Vertebrate embryos

Dorsal hollow nerve cord

Stiff notochord
Pharyngeal slits behind the
mouth
Muscular post-anal tail
• The blastula forms a fetus.
The fetus continues to grow and
develop.
• The fetus undergoes:

– Birth

– Maturation

– Senescence
 Evolution
• Changes in genetic information (i.e. DNA) of a
population from generation to generation.
• Descent from a common ancestor

• Evolution requires:

– Variability among members of the population.

– Heritability of traits (characteristics).
– Differential reproduction based on characteristics.
Atlas A
Frontal
Transverse
Sagittal
Oblique
Other position terms (Table A.1)

• Ventral • Medial
• Dorsal • Lateral
• Anterior – Ipsilateral
• – Contralateral
Posterior
• Superior • Proximal
• Inferior • Distal
• Superficial
• Deep
 Most vertebrates:

Dorsal

Anterior

Posterior

Ventral
 The human

Dorsal and posterior Anterior and ventral

 Superior, inferior
• Superior: above
– The larynx is superior to the trachea

• Inferior: below
– The diaphragm is inferior to the heart

– Note: does not refer to arms or legs.

 Medial, lateral.
• Medial: toward the medial plane

• Lateral: away from the medial plane

 Proximal, Distal
• Refers to position within objects that are
attached at one end.

• Proximal: toward the point of attachment or

origin.
– The elbow is proximal to the wrist.
• Distal: away from the point of attachment
or origin.
– The fingers (digits) are distal to the elbow.
 Superficial, Deep

• Superficial: closer to the body surface.

– The skin is superficial to the muscles.

• Deep: farther from the body surface.

– The brain is deep to the cranium.
 Axial and appendicular regions:

• Axial region: the head, neck, and trunk.

– The trunk is divided into thoracic and
abdominal regions, separated by the diaphragm.

• Appendicular region: the appendages, or

upper and lower limbs.
 Appendicular regions
• Upper limb: • Lower limb:
– Brachium (arm) – Thigh
– Antebrachium (forearm) – Crus (leg)
– Carpus (wrist) – Tarsus (ankle)
– Manus (hand) – Pes (foot)
– Digits (fingers) – Digits (toes)

Note: arm and leg as defined

include only a portion of what we
consider the arm or leg.
 Some authorities include the
Sensory system

• Detects stimuli
 Functions of organ systems:
• Protection, support and movement.
– Integumentary, skeletal, muscular
• Internal communication and integration.
– Nervous, endocrine
• Fluid transport.
– Circulatory, lymphatic
• Defense.
– Immune
• Input and output.
– Respiratory, urinary, digestive
• Reproduction.
– Reproductive