CELL
PHYSIOLOGY
•Functional Organization of the Human
Body
•Homeostasis
•Control of the “Internal Environment”
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What is Physiology?
Physiology: biological sciences
• Dealing with the normal life phenomena exhibited by all living
organisms.
Human physiology: basic medical science
• Dealing with normal life phenomena of the human body.
Goal of physiology
“Explain the physical and chemical factors that are responsible for the origin,
development and progression of life”
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Human Physiology
⚫ The basis for
⚫ Pathophysiology
⚫ Pharmacology
⚫ Immunology
⚫ Biochemistry
⚫ Microbiology
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Why do we study Physiology?
Understand the physiologic principles underlying normal function
in order to cure the impairments.
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Different Level of Physiological Research
Organization of the human body
Organisms
Organ
(Human body)
Tissues Organs systems
Cells
Organ Systems In Review
• Circulatory
• Digestive
• Endocrine
• Immune
• Integumentary
• Musculoskeletal
• Nervous
• Reproductive
• Urinary
Figure 1-2: The integration between systems of the body
Fluid compartments of the body
Figure 1-2
ICF ECF plasma organs
external
internal environment environment
Exchange and communication are key concepts
for understanding physiological homeostasis.
Extracellular Fluid-The “Internal
Environment”
• About 60 per cent of the adult human body is fluid, mainly a water
solution of ions and other substances.
• Although most of this fluid is inside the cells and is called
intracellular fluid, about one third is in the spaces outside the cells
and is called extracellular fluid.
• This extracellular fluid is in constant motion throughout the body. It is
transported rapidly in the circulating blood and then mixed between
the blood and the tissue fluids by diffusion through the capillary walls.
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Internal Environment and Homeostasis
Total body water = 60 % BW
Extracellular fluid
Blood Plasma 1/
1/ Interstitial fluid 5
3 4/
5
Intracellular fluid
2/
3 = 40 % BW
⚫ECF is the Internal
environment
⚫Milieu Interieur
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Extracellular fluids
Intracellular
fluid
intravascular compartment
Interstitial compartment
Transcellular compartment
ECF ICF
Contains large amount of Contains large amont of
Sodium, chloride, potassium , magnesium and
bicarbonate ions and phosphate ions.
nutrients for cells like
oxygen, glucose and amino
acids. Also contains waste
materials like carbon-
dioxide and other waste
products from kidneys.
Concept of Homeostasis
• Definition: A dynamic steady state of the
constituents in the external fluid environment
(the ECF) that surrounds and exchanges
materials with the cell.
• “Maintenance of nearly constant conditions
in the internal environment". Guyton. A.C.)
• Maintenance of the homeostasis essential for
survival and normal functioning of cell.
Homeostasis
⚫Essentially all organs and tissues of the body perform
functions that help maintain these constant
conditions.
⚫For instance, the lungs provide oxygen to the
extracellular fluid to replenish the oxygen used by
the cells, the kidneys maintain constant ion
concentrations, and the gastrointestinal system
provides nutrients.
Concept of Homeostasis
Cannon WB: The wisdom of the body. New York, 1932,
WW Norton.
• Disruption in homeostasis can lead to illness
and death
• The term Pathophysiology refers to the
abnormal functioning of the body (altered
physiology) associated with disease
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Homeostasis & Controls
•Successful compensation
• Homeostasis
reestablished
•Failure to
compensate
•Pathophysiolo
gy
•Illness
•Death
Factors Homeostatically Regulated
1. Concentration of nutrients.
2. Concentration of O2 and CO2
3. Concentration of waste products.
4. Levels of pH.
5. Concentration of water, salt and other
electrolytes.
6. Volume and pressure.
7. Temperature.
Homeostatic regulation of
volume and pressure
Homeostasis:
A framework for human physiology
Homeostasis refers to the dynamic mechanisms that detect and
respond to deviations in physiological variables from their “set
point” values by initiating effector responses that restore the
variables to the optimal physiological range.
Origin of Nutrients in the Extracellular
Fluid
⚫ Respiratory System. Each time the blood passes through
the body, it also flows through the lungs. The blood picks up
oxygen in the alveoli, thus acquiring the oxygen needed by the
cells. The membrane between the alveoli and the lumen of the
pulmonary capillaries, the alveolar membrane, is only 0.4 to
2.0 micrometers thick, and oxygen diffuses by molecular
motion through the pores of this membrane into the blood in
the same manner that water and ions diffuse through walls of
the tissue capillaries.
Gastrointestinal Tract.
A large portion of the blood pumped by the heart also
passes through the walls of the gastrointestinal tract.
Here different dissolved nutrients, including
carbohydrates, fatty acids, and amino acids, are
absorbed from the ingested food into the extracellular
fluid of the blood.
Liver and Other Organs That Perform
Primarily Metabolic Functions.
Not all substances absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract
can be used in their absorbed form by the cells. The liver
changes the chemical compositions of many of these
substances to more usable forms, and other tissues of the
body—fat cells, gastrointestinal mucosa, kidneys, and
endocrine glands—help modify the absorbed substances or
store them until they are needed.
Musculoskeletal System
How does the musculoskeletal system fit into the
homeostatic functions of the body?
The answer is obvious and simple: Were it not for the
muscles, the body could not move to the appropriate place
at the appropriate time to obtain the foods required for
nutrition. The musculoskeletal system also provides motility
for protection against adverse surroundings, without which
the entire body, along with its homeostatic mechanisms,
could be destroyed instantaneously.
HOMEOSTATIC CONTROL SYSTEMS OF BODY
• Feedback system: Refers to responses made after a
change has been detected.
▫ Negative: negative feedback opposes an initial change and
is widely used to maintain homeostasis
▫ Positive: Positive feedback amplifies an initial change.
• Feed-forward system: Refers to responses made in
anticipation of a change.
▫ Adaptive control system
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Regulation of homeostasis by
Negative feedback
1. Definition–
change in a factor (controlled variable) triggers a
physiological response that seeks to restore the
factor by OPPOSING the initial change
2. Example—
control of room/body temperature
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Regulation of homeostasis by Negative
feedback
3. Three components of a control system
A. Sensor (receptor)– monitors the control variable (for
example, room temp.); what is the sensor?
B. Integrating (control) center– it compares the sensor’s
input with the set point and sends instructions to
effector
C. Effector– action component brings the variable
back to normal
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Fig. 1.9(b) Fluctuation of room temperature
around the thermostatic set point
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Fig. 1.10 Negative
feedback in human
th e
moregulation.
F ig
1.11
ur r e
The homeostatic control system: example
Interpret the arrows in
textbook’s fl ow charts as
“leads to” or “causes.”
e.g., decreased room
temperature causes
increased heat loss from the
body, which leads to a
decrease in body
temperature, etc.
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Positive feedback & rapid change
1. Definition– change in a factor triggers a
physiological response that AMPLIFIES an
initial change
2. Examples—
A. blood clotting
B.Opening of Na channels in action potential
generation
C. in the birth of a baby; how?
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Positive Feedback:
Stimulatory.
Stimulus trigger mechanisms that amplify the
response and reinforces the stimulus.
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Positive feedback & rapid change
⚫ Uterine contractions push the baby against the
cervix
⚫ the stretching of the cervix triggers nerve
impulses
⚫ brings about oxytocin secretion
⚫ The hormone oxytocin causes even stronger
powerful contractions of the uterus
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Importance:
1) Enhance the action of original stimulus or amplify or
reinforce change, promote an activity to finish
2) It is known as a vicious circle because it can lead to
instability or even death
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Feed-forward Control/ Adaptive Control/ Delayed
Negative Feedback
Concept: a direct effect of stimulus on the control system
before the action of feedback signal occurs.
Examples: Shivering before diving into the cold water
• Secretion of digestive juices before food reaches stomach
• Hyperventilation at the start of exercise
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Significance Of Feedback-forward/Adaptive
Feedback Control
Makes the human body to foresee and adapt the
environment promptly and exactly
(prepare the body for the change).
"Gain" of a Control System
• The degree of effectiveness with which a control
system maintains constant conditions is determined
by the gain of the negative feedback
Gain = Correction / error
