Homeostasis, Chemistry & Cell Transport

Flashcards covering key concepts from lecture notes on Homeostasis, Chemistry, and Cell Transport.

What is the study of structure called?

Anatomy

What is the study of function called?

Physiology

What method involves cutting and separating tissue to reveal its relationships?

Dissection

What common theme in Anatomy and Physiology describes how form reflects function?

Structure and function relationship

Which control system provides long-term regulation using chemical transmitters (hormones) secreted into the blood?

Endocrine System

Which control system directs swift, brief responses to stimuli using direct chemical transmitters?

Nervous System

What inspection method involves feeling structures with the hands?

Palpation

What inspection method involves listening to the sounds of the body?

Auscultation

What is the study of multiple species to compare similarities and differences and analyze evolutionary trends called?

Comparative Anatomy

What branch of medicine focuses on imaging the body without surgery?

Radiology

What type of anatomy involves structures seen by the naked eye?

Gross Anatomy

What is the microscopic examination of tissue for signs of disease called?

Histopathology

What is the study of the structure and function of individual cells?

Cytology

What is the main goal of our body's physiological function?

To maintain homeostasis

What is the study of how different species have solved problems of life?

Comparative physiology

What is a group of organs with a collective function called?

Organ System

What is a structure composed of two or more tissue types that work together to carry out a certain function?

Organ

What is a mass of similar cells and cell products that form a region in an organ and carries out a certain function?

Tissue

What are the four primary classes of tissue?

Epithelial, Connective, Nervous, Muscular

What is the smallest unit of an organism that can carry out all the basic functions of life?

Cell

What are microscopic structures in cells that carry out their own function (e.g., mitochondria, lysosomes)?

Organelles

What is the idea that complex systems can be understood by studying their simpler components?

Reductionism

What characteristic of life describes the ability to sense and react to stimuli?

Responsiveness and movement

What is the sum of all internal chemical changes in the body?

Metabolism

What is the ability of an organism to maintain relatively stable internal conditions?

Homeostasis

What is the transformation of cells with no specialized function into cells committed to a particular task?

Differentiation

What term describes conditions that slightly fluctuate around a set point, representing the body's internal state?

Dynamic Equilibrium

What type of homeostatic regulation involves the body adjusting its own activities in response to environmental change?

Autoregulation (Intrinsic Regulation)

What type of homeostatic regulation occurs when external factors (e.g., nerve impulses, hormones) control body activity?

Extrinsic Regulation

What homeostatic mechanism senses a change and activates mechanisms that negate or reverse it, keeping variables close to a set point?

Negative Feedback

What are the three components of a feedback loop?

Receptor, Control Center, Effector

What is the widening of blood vessels, which brings blood closer to the body surface to lose heat?

Vasodilation

What is the narrowing of blood vessels, which sends blood deeper into the body to reduce heat loss?

Vasoconstriction

What is a self-amplifying cycle where a physiological change leads to more change in the same direction, not typically a corrective mechanism?

Positive Feedback

What structure defines the boundaries of a cell, governs interactions, and controls what enters and exits?

Plasma Membrane

What type of membrane molecule is amphipathic, forming the basic bilayer, with hydrophilic heads and hydrophobic tails?

Phospholipids

What membrane component can make the membrane less fluid by preventing phospholipid movement or more fluid by preventing too many phospholipids from packing too close?

Cholesterol

What carbohydrate coating on animal cell membranes often includes glycolipids and aids in cell identification?

Glycocalyx

What type of membrane protein passes completely through the phospholipid bilayer, protruding on both sides, and has hydrophobic and hydrophilic regions?

Transmembrane Proteins

What type of membrane protein does not protrude into the phospholipid bilayer but sticks to the inner or outer face of the membrane?

Peripheral Proteins

What type of membrane transport requires no energy expenditure (ATP) by the cell and is powered by concentration gradients?

Passive Transport

What type of membrane transport involves the movement of substances against their concentration gradient and requires energy (ATP)?

Active Transport

What is the net movement of particles from a high to a low concentration?

Diffusion

What specific type of passive transport uses channel proteins to allow water or small charged/polar solutes to pass through the membrane?

Facilitated Diffusion

What is the net flow of H2O across a selectively permeable membrane, from an area of low solute concentration to high solute concentration?

Osmosis

What are the channel proteins specialized in transporting water more readily across the nonpolar membrane?

Aquaporins

What is the ability of a solution to affect the fluid volume and pressure of a cell?

Tonicity

What kind of solution causes cells to lose H2O and shrivel (crenate)?

Hypertonic Solution

What kind of solution causes cells to absorb H2O, swell, and may burst (lyse)?

Hypotonic Solution

What kind of solution results in no change in cell volume or shape because the total concentration of nonpermeating solute is the same inside and outside the cell?

Isotonic Solution

What type of active transport uses carrier-mediated mechanisms to move substances against their concentration gradient, directly using ATP?

Primary Active Transport

What pump utilizes primary active transport and moves 3 Na+ ions out of the cell for every 2 K+ ions pumped in?

Sodium-Potassium Pump

What vesicular process brings matter into the cell (e.g., phagocytosis, pinocytosis)?

Endocytosis

What vesicular process releases matter out of the cell?

Exocytosis

What is the space surrounding the outside of cells, including fibers and ground substance?

Extracellular Matrix

What is the liquid portion of blood called?

Blood Plasma

What fluid fills the space between cells/tissue and between the circulatory system and cells?

Interstitial Fluid

What term refers to the fluid outside of cells, making up 1/3 of the total water volume in the body?

Extracellular Fluid

What term refers to the fluid inside cells, making up 2/3 of the total water volume in the body?

Intracellular Fluid

What is a difference in chemical concentration, electrical charge, physical pressure, temperature, or other variables between two points?

Physiological Gradient

What type of gradient involves the flow of blood away from the heart due to heartbeats?

Pressure Gradient

What type of gradient involves charged particles flowing from an area of higher charge to lower charge?

Electrical Gradient

What strongly attracts atoms to each other when electrons are shared equally between two atoms of similar electronegativity?

Nonpolar Covalent Bond

What type of bond involves a complete transfer of electrons between two opposite ions (cation + anion)?

Ionic Bond

What type of weak attraction occurs between a partially positively charged hydrogen atom and a partially negatively charged molecule?

Hydrogen Bonds

What interactions occur when nonpolar molecules are repelled by polar molecules and attract each other for stability?

Hydrophobic Interactions

What type of chemical reaction involves smaller particles bonding together to form larger, more complex molecules (e.g., amino acids forming protein)?

Synthesis Reactions

What type of chemical reaction involves bonds being broken in larger molecules, resulting in smaller, less complex molecules (e.g., glycogen breaking down to glucose)?

Decomposition Reactions

What type of chemical reaction involves both bonds being made and broken (also called displacement reactions)?

Exchange Reactions

What property of water describes the linking of similar molecules due to hydrogen bonds keeping H2O molecules close?

Cohesion

What property of water describes its ability to cling to another substance (e.g., H2O sticking to plant cells)?

Adhesion

What term describes molecules that interact easily with water (e.g., charged polar molecules and ions)?

Hydrophilic

What term describes molecules that do not interact with water and often repel H2O (e.g., nonpolar molecules)?

Hydrophobic

What term describes mixtures where solute particles can pass through most selectively permeable membranes and are evenly mixed in a solvent?

Solution

What term describes aqueous mixtures of particles that can't pass through a permeable membrane but are small enough to remain evenly dispersed in the solvent (e.g., proteins in blood plasma)?

Colloids

What term describes an unstable mixture with large particles that can settle out of the solvent (e.g., blood cells in blood plasma)?

Suspension