Lecture 18: Temperature & Thirst and Lecture 19: Stress & Health

These flashcards encompass critical concepts and definitions related to temperature regulation, thirst, stress, and health as covered in the lectures.

Homeostasis

The process of maintaining a variable at a fixed 'set point' via negative feedback.

Allostasis

The adaptive way the body changes its set points depending on the situation, often in anticipation of a stressor.

Preoptic Area/Anterior Hypothalamus (POA/AH)

The primary brain region responsible for temperature regulation.

Inhibitory GABA signals

Signals sent by the POA/AH to the raphe nucleus dorsalis to regulate heat.

Vasopressin

A hormone released by the posterior pituitary that conserves water by making the kidneys reabsorb it.

Osmotic Thirst

Thirst triggered by high solute (salt) concentration in extracellular fluid.

OVLT and SFO

Brain regions that detect osmotic thirst.

Renin-Angiotensin Cascade

A sequence in hypovolemic thirst starting from low blood volume leading to Angiotensin II, which induces thirst.

Aldosterone

A hormone responsible for sodium-specific hunger, causing kidneys to retain salt.

Selye’s General Adaptation Syndrome

The three stages of stress response: Alarm, Resistance, and Exhaustion.

HPA Axis

The pathway involving the Hypothalamus releasing CRH, the Anterior Pituitary releasing ACTH, and the Adrenal Cortex releasing Cortisol.

B Cells

Immune cells that produce antibodies that attach to specific antigens.

T Cells

Immune cells that directly attack cells tagged by antibodies.

Sickness Response

A pathway where infection leads to cytokine release, resulting in fever and sleepiness.

Yerkes-Dodson Law

A principle stating that performance is best at moderate arousal levels, with performance dropping for difficult tasks as arousal increases.

Independent Variables in mouse study

Task Difficulty (light-dark contrast) and Voltage of electric shock.

Resilient Response to stress

Rapid activation of stress processes followed by quick deactivation once the stressor is resolved.