Overview of Organ Systems of the Body

Vocabulary flashcards covering the major component organs and functions of the 11 organ systems of the human body.

Integumentary system

Major components: Skin, nails, hair, cutaneous sense organs, and glands. Function: Protects deeper organs from injury due to bumps, chemicals, bacteria, and dehydration; Excretes salts and urea; Helps regulate body temperature; Produces vitamin D.

Skeletal system

Major components: Bones, cartilages, tendons, ligaments, and joints. Function: Supports and protects internal organs; Provides levers for muscular action; Stores minerals (calcium and others); Cavities provide a site for blood cell formation.

Muscular system

Major components: Muscles attached to the skeleton. Function: Skeletal muscles contract or shorten to allow locomotion, manipulation of the environment, and facial expression; Generates heat.

Nervous system

Major components: Brain, spinal cord, nerves, and special sense organs. Function: Allows body to detect changes in its internal and external environment and to respond by activating appropriate muscles or glands; Helps maintain short-term homeostasis via electrical signals.

Endocrine system

Major components: Pituitary, thyroid, parathyroid, adrenal, and pineal glands; ovaries, testes, and pancreas. Function: Promotes growth and development; Produces chemical messengers (hormones) that travel in the blood to exert effects on target organs; Regulates long-term homeostasis.

Cardiovascular system

Major components: Heart, blood vessels, and blood. Function: Transport system carrying blood containing oxygen, carbon dioxide, nutrients, wastes, ions, and hormones; Heart pumps blood through vessels; Protects body with blood clots, antibodies, and protein molecules.

Lymphatic system

Major components: Lymphatic vessels, lymph nodes, spleen, thymus, and tonsils. Function: Picks up fluid leaked from blood vessels and returns it to blood; Cleanses blood of pathogens and debris; Houses lymphocytes that act via immune response to protect the body from foreign substances.

Respiratory system

Major components: Nose, pharynx, larynx, trachea, bronchi, and lungs. Function: Keeps blood continuously supplied with oxygen while removing carbon dioxide; Contributes to acid-base balance of blood via carbonic acid-bicarbonate buffer system.

Digestive system

Major components: Mouth, esophagus, stomach, small and large intestines, and accessory structures (teeth, salivary glands, liver, gallbladder, pancreas). Function: Breaks down ingested foods into tiny particles for absorption into blood; Eliminates undigested residue as feces.

Urinary system

Major components: Kidneys, ureters, urinary bladder, and urethra. Function: Filters blood and rids body of nitrogen-containing wastes (urea, uric acid, ammonia); Maintains water, electrolyte, and acid-base balance of blood.

Reproductive system

Major components: Male: testes, scrotum, penis, and duct system; Female: ovaries, uterine tubes, uterus, and vagina. Function: Male produces germ cells (sperm) for producing offspring; Female produces germ cells (eggs) for producing offspring, and female uterus houses developing fetus until birth.