What is homeostasis?
The maintenance of the internal environment of an organism, including factors like blood glucose concentration, osmoregulation, pH, and temperature.
What are the two types of cells in the Islets of Langerhans?
alpha and beta cells
What do alpha cells produce?
Glucagon
What do beta cells produce?
Insulin
Role of Glucagon
glucagon raises blood glucose levels by stimulating the breakdown of glycogen
Role of Insulin
Insulin lowers blood glucose levels by promoting glucose uptake into body tissues
What are the physiological changes associated with type 1 diabetes?
Type 1 diabetes involves an inability to produce sufficient insulin due to autoimmune destruction of beta cells in the pancreas.
What are the physiological changes associated with type 2 diabetes?
A deficiency of insulin receptors and glucose transporters, leading to an inability to respond to insulin
How does the body monitor temperature?
Peripheral thermoreceptors in the skin and central thermoreceptors in the hypothalamus
What hormone does the hypothalamus secrete in response to cold?
Thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH)
What hormone does the pituitary gland secrete in response to TRH?
Thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH)
What does thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) do?
Stimulates production of thyroxin by the thyroid, increasing metabolic rate of cells
What happens during vasoconstriction in response to cold?
Blood vessels narrow to reduce blood flow to the skin and minimize heat loss.
Shivering
Muscles contract cause movement and generate heat
Uncoupled Respiration (Brown adipose tissue)
Brown adipose tissue generates heat energy through respiration instead of ATP
What is vasodilation?
Blood vessels widen and increase blood flow to skin for more heat loss
Sweating
Sweat secreted by glands in the skin, and its evaporation is cooling
What is osmoregulation?
The process of maintaining the osmotic concentration of body fluids.
What is the function of the glomerulus in the kidney?
The glomerulus filters fluid out of blood plasma to produce glomerular filtrate, retaining larger molecules like plasma proteins.
Afferent arteriole
How blood enters the glomerulus
Efferent arteriole
How blood leaves the glomerulus
Why are plasma proteins and blood cells not part of the glomerular filtrate?
They are larger molecules and are not as permeable
What is the role of the Bowmans’s Capsule?
Participates in the filtration of blood from glomerular capillaries
What is the role of the Proximal Convoluted Tubule?
Reabsorption of substances in the filtrate
How are sodium ions reabsorbed?
Active transport
How are chloride ions reabsorbed?
Diffuses from the charge gradient from active transport of sodium ions
How is glucose reabsorbed?
Moved by cotransporter proteins in outer membrane of tubular cells
How is water reabsorbed?
Osmoses using the solute concentration gradient
What is the role of the loop of Henle in the kidney?
It establishes and maintains the osmotic concentration gradient in the medulla of the kidney.
Permeability of Ascending limb
Impermeable to water, permeable to sodium ions
Permeability of Descending Limb
Permeable to water, impermeable to sodium ions
How is blood osmotic concentration regulated?
Removing varying amounts of water from urine
How does the permeability of water in cells in distal convoluted tubule/collecting duct vary?
Number of aquaporins in the plasma membrane of cells
ADH
Antidiuretic hormone
What triggers the release of antidiuretic hormone (ADH)?
High blood osmotic concentration triggers the pituitary gland to secrete ADH, which increases water reabsorption in the collecting duct.
Response to high blood osmotic concentration
More water reabsorption
Response to low blood osmotic concentration
Less reabsorption of water