1. Body regulation.

2. Homeostasis and adaptation to

the environment.
 There are two major
communication systems:
• The nervous system based upon nerve impulses
• The endocrine system based upon hormones
 Coordination and Control

• Control and coordination within a body depend on

the endocrine system (ES) and the nervous system
(NS).
• The ES transmits chemical signals called hormones to
receptive cells throughout the body via blood.
• A hormone may affect one or more regions
throughout the body.
• They are relatively slow acting, but can have long-
lasting effects
• The NS conveys high-speed electrical signals along
specialized cells called neurons
• The ES, made up of endocrine glands, secretes
hormones that coordinate slower but longer-acting
responses to stimuli
• The ES and NS often function together in
maintaining homeostasis, development and
reproduction
• Specialized nerve cells known as neurosecretory cells
release neurohormones into the blood
• Both, endocrine hormones and neurohormones,
function as
long-distance regulators of many physiological
processes
 Stimulus Stimulus
Endocrine
cell
Neuron

Axon
Signal
Hormone
Signal travels
Signal travels along axon to
everywhere a specific
via the location.
bloodstream.

Blood
vessel Signal

Axons

Response Response
(a) Signaling by hormones (b) Signaling by neurons
The Body’s 2 Control Systems

• Variation in speed, specificity and duration of action

• The two systems allow for 4 different types of

biological reflexes
1. Simple (pure) nervous
2. Simple (pure) endocrine
3. Neurohormone
4. Neuroendocrine (different combos)
 Nerve impulses

• The NS sends signals along nerves to specific parts of the body

• The nerve impulses travel very quickly and affect their target
tissues in milliseconds
• The NS is composed of neurons - their axons carry electrical
nerve impulses.
• This electrical signal of the nerve impulse needs to be
converted into a chemical signal (a neurotransmitter) so that it
can pass from nerve cell to nerve cell
• The information conveyed depends on a signal’s pathway, not
the type of signal
• Nerve impulses can be received by neurons, muscle cells and
endocrine cells
The nervous system organisation

• The Central Nervous System (CNS) made of the brain and

spinal cord
• Peripheral nerves connecting it to sensors and effectors

Central Nervous
System
Sensory nerve Motor nerve

Receptor or Sensor Effector

eg photoreceptor eg muscle or gland

Stimulus Response
• The ES transmits chemical signals (hormones) to
the receptive cells throughout the body via blood
• A hormone may affect one or more regions
throughout the body
• Hormones are relatively slow acting, but can have
long-lasting effects
 Hormone pathway

Endocrine cell
Hormone
synthesis
Hormone
precursors Hormone stored
in vesicles
Stimulus acts on
receptor site or
Hormone secreted
directly inside cell
into the blood
stream

Chemicals stimulating the

release of the hormone
Hormone pathway

Hormone
receptor site

Metabolic effect

Target cell
 Definition of Homeostasis

• homeo = same; stasis = standing

• Homeostasis:
- term use to describe the constant state of the internal
environment.
- is a state of balance in the body.
- is the maintenance of a steady state in the body, despite changes
in the external environment
• The steady state is the optimum level for the body functions
• The processes and activities that help to maintain homeostasis are
referred to as homeostatic mechanisms.
• In humans, body temperature, blood pH, and glucose
concentration are each maintained at a constant level
Homeostatic mechanisms are designed to
reestablish homeostasis when there is an
imbalance.
MODEL : The Home Heating System
1.When the temperature of a room decreases below a set point, the
thermostat electrically starts the furnace.
2.As the temperature of the room rises to the set point, the thermostat
shuts down the furnace.
3.As the room cools, step one is repeated.

There are three components to this system:

1.The Sensor which detects the stress.
2.The Control Center which receives information from the sensor and
sends a message to the Effector.
3.The Effector which receives the message from the control center and
produces the response which reestablishes homeostasis.
 A system in homeostasis needs:

• Sensors to detect changes in the internal

environment
• A comparator which fixes the set point of the system
(e.g. body temperature).
• The set point will be the optimum condition under
which the system operates
• Effectors which bring the system back to the set
point
• Feedback control: negative feedback stops the
system over compensating (going too far)
• A communication system to link the different parts
together
 A system in homeostasis needs:
Sensor detects changes in the internal environment
Comparator fixes the set point of the system
Effector brings the system back to the set point
Communication system links the different parts together

Return to
Perturbation in
normal
the internal Sensor Comparator Effector
internal
environment
environment
Sensor

Negative
feedback
 Open automatic / communication systems:

Stimulus
These should consist
of the following Sensor
components:
Linkage
system

Effector

Reponse
 Feedback Loops in Homeostasis

• The dynamic equilibrium of homeostasis is maintained by

negative feedback, which helps to return a variable to
either a normal range or a set point.
• Most homeostatic control systems function by negative
feedback, where buildup of the end product shuts the
system off.
• Positive feedback loops occur do not usually contribute to
homeostasis.
 Control Pathways: Response and Feedback Loops
• Maintain
homeostasis

–Local -
paracrines and
autocrines

–Long-distance
- reflex control
• Nervous
• Endocrine
• Cytokines
Steps of Reflex Control (a review)
Stimulus (internal or external)

Sensory receptor

Afferent path

Integration center

Efferent path

Effector (target cell/tissue)

Response
Homeostasis Using a Neural Pathway

• Homeostatic mechanisms use

a nerve pathway in which to
produce their effects.
• These pathways involve an
afferent path which brings
sensory messages into the
brain and an efferent path
which carries outgoing nerve
messages to effectors.
 Homeostatic Regulation of Body Temperature through
Negative Feedback

Hyperthermia Heat receptors Hypothalamus

in the skin
Stress
Sensors Control Center

Stress is reduced
shutting down
mechanism
Increased
activity of
Perspiration sweat glands
evaporates
cooling the skin Increased blood
flow to the skin
Effect
Effectors
Negative Feedback Example
Negative Feedback Via a Hormonal Pathway

Hormones:
• produced by endocrine glands, play an
important role in many homeostatic pathways.
• enter the blood after being produced and travel
throughout the body.
• have their effect on specific target tissues.
 Homeostatic Regulation of Blood Sugar through
Negative Feedback

Hyperglycemia Pancreas-beta cells Insulin is released

into blood
Stress Sensor and Control center

Stress is reduced
shutting down
mechanism

Liver and Muscle cells

Blood glucose
take up glucose from
is reduced
the blood

Effectors
Negative Feedback Via a Hormonal Pathway:
Regulation of Blood Sugar
 Positive Feedback Mechanisms
Homeostatic systems utilizing positive feedback exhibit two primary
characteristics:
1. Time limitation – Processes in the body that must be completed within
a constrained time frame are usually modified by positive feedback.
2. Intensification of stress – During a positive feedback process, the
initial imbalance or stress is intensified rather than reduced as it is in
negative feedback.
Typical Positive Feedback Process

Stress Sensor Control Center

Intensifies Effector
 Homeostatic Regulation of Child Birth through
Positive Feedback
Nerve endings in the uterine
Pressure of Fetus on
wall carry afferent messages
the Uterine Wall
to the Hypothalamus

Intensifies

Production and Release

Increasing strength of of Oxytocin into the
uterine contractions Blood

The birth of the child will bring this process to a close.

Other examples of positive feedback regulation occur during milk
letdown and blood clotting.
+ Feedback Loop
 Feedback in Coagulation

Positive feedback “mini-loops” are built into pathway to speed up

production of chemicals needed to form the clot. Entire sequence
of clotting is a negative feedback pathway.
 Harmful Effects of Positive Feedback

1. Fever can cause a positive feedback within

homeostasis that pushes the body temperature
continually higher. If the temperature reaches 45
degrees centigrade, cellular proteins denature
bringing metabolism to a stop and death.
2. Chronic hypertension can favor the process of
atherosclerosis which causes the openings of blood
vessels to narrow. This, in turn, will intensify the
hypertension bring on more damage to the walls of
blood vessels.
 Alterations in Homeostasis

• Set points and normal ranges can change with age

or show cyclic variation
• Homeostasis can adjust to changes in external
environment, a process called acclimatization
 Acclimatization and Adaptation

• Organisms change to maintain homeostasis in

their environment.
• There are two kinds of change:
- Short-term
- Long-term
 Adaptation Vs. Acclimatization

• Adaptation: Anything that helps an organism to

survive in its environment which usually occurs
over several generations.

• Acclimatization: The short-term process of

adjusting to changes in an environment, such as
shivering for temperature regulation or increasing
RBCs counts to acclimatize to high altitudes.
Usually occurs in one lifetime.
You are more familiar with acclimatization than you
think!

– Recovering from “jet lag”

– Organisms that grow longer/thicker fur during cold seasons
– Production of more RBCs at higher altitudes
– Trees shedding leaves

Ignoring acclimatization can be hazardous!

– Often, the changes made to maintain homeostasis take
time.
– Improper time to adjust can lead to heat stroke or
pneumonia for example
• Long-term change, adaptation,
adaptation is a basic
phenomena of Biology.
– These changes occur over many generations among
an whole species.
• Adaptation is a process, not a physical trait.
– However, physical traits are seen as direct results of
adaptation.
 Adaptation
• Any change in the structure
or functioning of an
organism that makes it
better suited to its
environment.

• Leads to changes in the

organisms and impacts
their environment.

• The human species adapts

biologically and culturally.
 Causes for Adaptation
• Environmental change
– Natural or caused by humans
• Deforestation, industrialization
• Niche change
– Includes invasive species,
extinction
• Genetic change
– Mutations, genetic drift, bottleneck effect
• Co-adaptations
– In response to other organisms
• Often symbiotic but not always
Human Adaptations
Bolivians in the
highlands use increased
hemoglobin production
to adapt to the low levels
of oxygen at high
altitudes,

while inhabitants of the Tibetan

plateau use increased respiration.
 Sickle cell anemia, malaria and adaptation

• People who have sickle cell anemia

(hereditary blood disease) are more
likely to survive malaria (a disease
which kills 1.2 million people every
year).
What is puzzling is why sickle cell
anemia is so prevalent in some African
populations.
• RBCs containing some abnormal Hb, http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/library/0
1/2/l_012_02.html
tend to sickle when they are infected by
the malaria parasite.
Those infected cells flow through the
spleen, which culls them out because of
their sickle shape and the parasite is
eliminated along with them.