YEAR 9 INFORMATION SHEET

Coordination and control - The nervous system

The nervous system enables humans to react to their surroundings and to
coordinate their behaviour. It comprises millions of neurones and uses electrical
impulses to communicate very quickly.

The structure and function of the nervous system

The conditions inside our body must be carefully controlled if the body is to
function effectively. The conditions are controlled in two ways with chemical and
nervous responses.

All control systems include:

 Cells called receptors, which detect stimuli (changes in the environment).

 The coordination centre, such as the brain, spinal cord or pancreas, which
receives and processes information from receptors around the body.
 Effectors bring about responses, which restore optimum levels, such as core
body temperature and blood glucose levels. Effectors include muscles and
glands, and so responses can include muscle contractions or hormone release.
There are three main types of neurone: sensory, motor and relay.

They have some features in common:

 A long fibre (axon) which is insulated by a fatty (myelin) sheath. They are long
so they can carry messages up and down the body.
 Tiny branches (dendrons) which branch further as dendrites at each end. These
receive incoming impulses from other neurones.
Receptors to effectors

Information from receptors passes along neurones, as electrical impulses to co-

ordinators such as the central nervous system or CNS. The CNS is the brain and
spinal cord. Muscles contracting or glands secreting hormones are the response
of effectors coordinated by the CNS.

Stimulus → receptor → coordinator → effector → response

 Receptors

Receptors are groups of specialised cells. They detect a change in the

environment (stimulus) and stimulate electrical impulses in response. Sense
organs contain groups of receptors that respond to specific stimuli.

Effectors

Effectors include muscles and glands - that produce a specific response to a

detected stimulus.

For example:

 a muscle contracting to move an arm

 muscle squeezing saliva from the salivary gland
 a gland releasing a hormone into the blood
Reflex actions

There are different types of neurones that work together in a reflex action.

This creates an automatic and rapid response to a stimulus, which minimises any
damage to the body from potentially harmful conditions, such as touching
something hot.

A reflex action follows this general sequence and does not involve the conscious
part of the brain, which makes it much quicker.

The nerve pathway followed by a reflex action is called a reflex arc. For example, a
simple reflex arc happens if we accidentally touch something hot.
ECOLOGY
Trophic levels

A food chain is a list of organisms in a habitat that shows their feeding

relationship, i.e what eats what. The organisms are joined by arrows which show
the transfer of energy in food between them. The stages in food chains are called
trophic levels.
Food chains always start with a producer. This is usually a green plant or algae
that completes photosynthesis to store energy from sunlight as glucose. Grass is
the producer in the grass → rabbit → fox food chain. Photosynthesis provides the
energy for most life on Earth.

A primary consumer eats a producer. The rabbit is the primary consumer in the
example food chain. This is in turn eaten by a secondary consumer, which is the
fox.

After this might be a tertiary consumer (which eats a secondary consumer) and
possibly a quaternary consumer (which eats a tertiary consumer), but not in this
example.

Animals that are hunted and eaten are prey, and these are consumed by
predators. The final consumer at the top of the food chain is called a top (or apex)
predator and is not eaten by anything else.
Food webs

Most populations of organisms that live in a habitat usually have more than one
food source. They usually consume more than one organism from the trophic
level below. This means that there are almost always more than one food chain
and these are interlinked into a food web.
DISEASES AND IMMUNITY

The immune system

If pathogens pass the non-specific first line of defence, they will cause an

infection. However, the body has a second line of defence to stop or minimise this
infection. This is called the immune system, and mainly consists of two types of
white blood cell called phagocytes and lymphocytes.

Phagocytes are attracted to pathogens in the blood and bind to them. The
phagocyte’s membrane surrounds the pathogen and engulfs it. Enzymes found
inside the cell then break down the pathogen in order to destroy it. As phagocytes
do this to all pathogens that they encounter, they are called non-specific.

Lymphocytes are another type of white blood cell. They recognise proteins on the
surface of pathogens called antigens. Lymphocytes detect that these are foreign,
ie not naturally occurring within the body, and produce antibodies. This can take a
few days, during which time you may feel ill. The antibodies cause pathogens to
stick together and make it easier for phagocytes to engulf them.

Some pathogens produce toxins which make you feel ill. Lymphocytes can also
produce antitoxins to neutralise these toxins. Both the antibodies and antitoxins
are highly specific to the antigen on the pathogen, therefore the lymphocytes that
produce them are called specific.

If your body encounters a particular antigen, your lymphocytes might recognise it.
If they do, they clone themselves in order to make enough antibodies to destroy
the pathogen. Memory cells are also created which remain in your bloodstream
and produce a quick response if the antigen is encountered again. You are then
said to be immune.

Vaccination - Higher tier only

Vaccines allow a dead or altered form of the disease-causing pathogen, which

contain a specific antigen, to be introduced into the body. This causes the
immune system, specifically the white blood cells, to produce complementary
antibodies. The antibodies target the antigen and attach themselves to it in order
to create memory cells. These will quickly respond to the antigen if it is
encountered again.
 Most vaccinations occur during childhood, so the decision whether or not to
vaccinate falls to the parents. Vaccination is relatively safe, giving only mild
symptoms of fever and swelling at injection sites, but sometimes allergic reactions
can occur. Also, there have been claims that link vaccination to serious
complications. These claims have been discredited, but the fear among parents
remains.

Parents have to consider a number of things when deciding whether or not to

vaccinate.

 There is a risk associated with any injection. However, the risk of contracting a
serious disease is far greater.
 Immunising increases herd immunity, ie those who are unable to be vaccinated
are protected as outbreaks of disease are prevented because others have been
vaccinated and are therefore immune.
 During the primary infection, the antibodies slowly increase, peak at
around ten days, and then gradually decrease.
 A second exposure to the same pathogen causes the white blood cells to
respond quickly in order to produce lots of the relevant antibodies, which
prevents infection.

Antibiotics and antibiotic resistance

Different types of medicines are available to treat many different diseases. Some

medicines only treat the symptoms, whilst others cure the disease by killing
the pathogens.

Antibiotics

Antibiotics are substances that slow down or stop the growth of bacteria. They
are commonly prescribed medicines, examples include penicillin and amoxicillin.
These can be taken to cure the disease by killing the pathogen, but are only
effective against bacterial diseases, not viral ones.

Penicillin

Penicillin is an antibiotic which was discovered by Sir Alexander Fleming in 1928.

He noticed that some bacteria he had left in a petri dish had been killed by the
naturally occurring Penicillium mould.
 Viral diseases

Viral diseases cannot be cured by antibiotics, because they reproduce inside the
host cells.

Antibiotic resistance

Since the discovery of Penicillin in 1928, the use of antibiotics for the treatment of
diseases has increased exponentially. As a result, antibiotics are being overused in
many ways in our world today.

Problems with antibiotics

Commonly prescribed antibiotics are becoming less effective due

to a number of reasons:

 overuse of antibiotics
 failing to complete the fully prescribed course by a doctor
 use of antibiotics in farming
These can lead to a reduction in the effectiveness of antibiotics, and an increase in
the incidence of antibiotic resistance. These bacteria are commonly known
as superbugs.

One of these superbugs is methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). It is

important that there are control measures in place to prevent the spread of this
disease. These include:

 hand washing
 thorough cleaning of hospital wards
 use of alcohol gels
 MRSA screening