MODULE 3

ADAPTATION OF ANATOMICAL PRINCIPLES

FOR BIOENGINEERING DESIGN
• Brain as a CPU system
• Eye as a Camera system
• Heart as a pump system
• Lungs as purification system
• Kidney as a filtration system
 HUMAN ORGAN SYSTEMS AND BIO DESIGNS
• The human body is a biological machine made of body
systems; groups of organs that work together to
produce and sustain life.
• Organ systems are: Skeletal system, Muscular system,
Cardiovascular system, Respiratory system, Nervous
system, Digestive system, Urinary system, Endocrine
system, Lymphatic system, Reproductive system,
Integumentary system.
• Bio-design is the use of living organisms in design and
its processes can be used in the creation of fashion,
textiles, furniture and architecture.
• Bio-design was coined by William Myers in 2012 as “an
emerging and often radical approach to design that
draws on biological tenets and even incorporates the
use of living materials into structures, objects and tools”
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• Nonprofits, design companies and universities around
the world, increasingly implement bio-design practices
into research and product development.
• Bio-design (actual or conceptual) embodies an
emerging design movement which incorporates the use
of living materials, or ‘moist media,’ such as fungi,
algae, yeast, bacteria, and cultured tissue.
• This can be as part of standard crafting methods or the
more complex fields of biomimicry and synthetic
biology.
• The idea is to create a product whose properties are
enhanced as a result of the use of these living
materials.

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 BRAIN AS A CPU SYSTEM
• Both CPU and brain use electrical signals to send
messages.
• The brain uses chemicals and the computer uses
electricity to transmit information.
• Even though electrical signals travel at high speeds in
the nervous system, they travel even faster through the
wires in a computer.
• The memory capacity of a human brain was testified to
be equal to 2.5 petabytes, which is equivalent to 2.5
million gigabytes of memory.
• Comparing computer and brain frequencies, Bostrom
noted that “biological neurons operate at a peak speed
of about 200 Hz, a full seven orders of magnitude
slower than a modern microprocessor (∼2 GHz)”.

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• The CPU is the brain of a computer, containing all the
circuitry needed to process input, store data, and output
the results.
• The CPU is constantly following instructions of
computer programs that inform as to which data needs
to be processed and how.

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 Architecture of Human Brain
• The human brain is one part of the nervous system.
• That’s the control system that sends instructions to all
the other parts of your body.
• The human Brain has many different parts.
• Each one plays a different function.
• But they all work together to manage complex
thoughts, feelings and behaviours.
• On average, an adult human brain weighs about 1300
grams.
• It uses about 20% of the body’s energy.
• The brain helps coordinate all of the body’s internal
and external actions.

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 Parts of a neuron

The three main parts of the brain

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a. The cerebellum helps fine-tune muscle movement and
helps control balance, posture and motor learning.
b. The cerebrum is the largest part of the brain, spanning
both the left and right hemispheres.
• It sits on top of the cerebellum and the brainstem.
• Many of body’s higher functions rely on the cerebrum.
• For instance, it controls touch, vision, hearing, speech and fine
motor skills.
• Cerebrum is also used to interpret emotions, solve problems and
learn.
c. The brainstem connects the base of the brain to the
spinal cord.
• It helps coordinate the brain’s communication with the rest of the
body.
• The brainstem also helps coordinate involuntary actions like
breathing and heart rate.

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 EYE AS A CAMERA SYSTEM
• The human eye is a wonderful instrument, relying on
refraction and lenses to form images.
• There are many similarities between the human eye
and a camera, including:
• A diaphragm to control the amount of light that gets through to
the lens.
• This is the shutter in a camera, and the pupil, at the center of the iris, in the
human eye.
• A lens to focus the light and create an image.
• The image is real and inverted.
• In a camera, film is used to record the image; in the eye, the
image is focused on the retina, and a system of rods and cones
is the front end of an image-processing system that converts
the image to electrical impulses and sends the information
along the optic nerve to the brain.

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 Architecture of Rod and Cone Cells
• Photoreceptors in the retina are classified into two
groups, named after their physical morphologies, as rod
and cone cells.
• These photoreceptors are localized around an area
near the centre of the retina called the macula, which is
the functional center of the retina.
• The fovea is located in the centre of the macula.
• The macula is responsible for high-resolution, color
vision, provided by different types of photoreceptors.
• Rod cells are highly sensitive to light and function in
night vision or at low light levels (scotopic vision).
• They do not mediate color vision and have a low spatial
acuity.

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• Cones are capable of detecting a wide spectrum of light
photons and active at higher light levels (photopic
vision
• Cone cells and are responsible for colour vision for high
spatial acuity.
• The central fovea is populated exclusively by cones.
• There are 3 types of cones which we will refer to as the
• short-wavelength sensitive cones, the S-cone
• middle-wavelength sensitive cones M-cones and
• long-wavelength sensitive cones L cones
• Rods and cones are structurally compartmentalized.
• They consist of five principal regions: Outer segment,
connecting cilium, Inner segment, nuclear region,
Synaptic region,

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 HEART AS A PUMP SYSTEM
• Heart is sort of like a pump, or two pumps in one.
• The right side of the heart receives blood from the body
and pumps it to the lungs.
• The left side of the heart does the exact opposite: It
receives blood from the lungs and pumps it out to the
body.
• The human heart is very strong and is capable of
pumping blood up to 30 feet distance.
• An average heart beats maximum of 70-80 beats per
minute and is considered healthy.
• The efficiency of the heart can be maintained and
improved by performing physical activity.

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Architecture

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• The human heart is about the size of a human fist and
is divided into four chambers, namely two ventricles
and two atria.
• The ventricles are the chambers that pump blood and
the atrium are the chambers that receive blood.
• Among these both the right atrium and ventricle make
up the “right heart,” and the left atrium and ventricle
make up the “left heart.”
• The structure of the heart also houses the biggest
artery in the body – the aorta.
• The blood first enters the right atrium.
• The blood then flows through the tricuspid valve into
the right ventricle.
• When the heart beats, the ventricle pushes blood
through the pulmonic valve into the pulmonary artery.

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• The pulmonary artery carries blood to the lungs where
it “picks up” oxygen.
• It then leaves the lungs to return to the heart through
the pulmonary vein.
• The blood enters the left atrium.
• It drops through the mitral valve into the left ventricle.
• The left ventricle then pumps blood through the aortic
valve and into the aorta.
• The aorta is the artery that feeds the rest of the body
through a system of blood vessels.
• Blood returns to the heart from the body via two large
blood vessels called the superior vena cava and the
inferior vena cava.

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Heart – Pump of the Circulatory System

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• This blood carries little oxygen, as it is returning from
the body where oxygen was used.
• The vena cava pump blood into the right atrium and the
cycle begins all over again
• The heart is called a double pump because each side
pumps blood to a different circulation.
• Deoxygenated blood from the body drains to the right side of
the heart.
• This is the first pump that sends blood to the lungs, called the
pulmonary circulation, where it becomes oxygenated and
releases carbon dioxide.
• Systemic circulation is another portion of circulation
where the oxygenated blood is pumped from the heart
to every organ and tissue in the body, and
deoxygenated blood comes back again to the heart.

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 Electrical Signaling
• Cells in the cardiac conduction system can generate
electrical impulses and then distribute the signal
throughout the heart.
• The parts of the cardiac conduction system are (in
order, starting where electricity is generated):
• The sinoatrial (SA) node.
• The atrioventricular (AV) node.
• The Bundle of His.
• Bundle branches.
• Purkinje fibers.
• The sinus node generates an electrical stimulus regularly, 60
to 100 times per minute under normal conditions.
• The atria are then activated.
• The electrical stimulus travels down through the conduction
pathways and causes the heart's ventricles to contract and
pump out blood

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 LUNGS AS PURIFICATION SYSTEM
• Lungs help in the purification of blood.
• Arteries carry pure oxygenated blood from the heart to
other parts of the body.
• Veins carry impure venous blood back from other parts
of the body to the right side of the heart.
• This impure blood goes to the lungs for purification.
• When the breath is inhaled, oxygen from the air comes
in contact with the impure blood and the blood takes up
oxygen.
• The waste matter in the blood releases carbonic acid
and the blood is purified.
• The purified blood is carried to the heart by the veins.

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 Architecture
• The lungs are a pair of spongy, air-filled organs located
on either side of the chest (thorax).
• The trachea (windpipe) conducts inhaled air into the
lungs through its main branch called bronchus (left and
right) and tubular branches, called bronchi.
• The bronchi then divide into smaller and smaller
branches (bronchioles)
• The bronchioles eventually end in clusters of
microscopic air sacs called alveoli.
• The lungs are covered by a thin tissue layer called the
pleura

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 Gas Exchange Mechanisms
• The exchange of gases occurs due to simple diffusion.
• Gas exchange takes place in the millions of alveoli in the
lungs and the capillaries that envelop them
• It occurs at two sites in the body
• In the lungs (blood and air) where oxygen is picked up and carbon
dioxide is released at the respiratory membrane and
• At the tissues (blood and tissues) where oxygen is released and
carbon dioxide is picked up.
• External respiration is the exchange of gases with the
external environment and occurs in the alveoli of the
lungs.
• Inhaled oxygen moves from the alveoli to the blood in the
capillaries, and carbon dioxide moves from the blood in the
capillaries to the air in the alveoli.
• Internal respiration is the exchange of gases with the
internal environment and occurs in the tissues.

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• Gas exchange has three phases:
• Breathing
• O2 is taken into lungs and blood vessels
• CO2 diffuses out and leaves the body
• Transport of gases by circulatory
system
• O2 attaches to hemoglobin and is carried
in blood to body tissues
• CO2 is transported from tissues back to
lungs
• Exchange of gases with tissue cells
• Body cells take up O2 from blood and
release CO2 back to the blood
• This is the diffusion through plasma
membrane (mitochondria internally)

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 KIDNEY AS A FILTRATION SYSTEM
• Kidneys remove wastes
and extra fluid from the
body.
• Kidneys also remove acid
that is produced by the cells
of the body and maintain a
healthy balance of water,
salts, and minerals—such
as sodium, calcium,
phosphorus, and
potassium—in the blood.
• Without this balance,
nerves, muscles, and other
tissues in the body may not
work normally.
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 Architecture
• The kidneys are two bean-shaped organs, each about
the size of a fist.
• They are located just below the rib cage, one on each
side of the spine.
• Healthy kidneys filter about a half cup of blood every
minute, removing wastes and extra water to make urine.
• The urine flows from the kidneys to the bladder through
two thin tubes of muscle called ureters, one on each side
of the bladder, which stores urine.
• Kidneys, ureters, and bladder are part of the urinary
tract.
• The kidneys are bilateral bean-shaped organs, reddish-
brown in colour and located in the posterior abdomen.
• Their main function is to filter and excrete waste
products from the blood

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• Kidneys have intricate and unique structure.
• The renal parenchyma is divided into outer cortex and
inner medulla.
• The cortex extends into the medulla, dividing it into
triangular shapes – these are known as renal pyramids.
• The apex of a renal pyramid is called a renal papilla.
• Each renal papilla is associated with a structure known
as the minor calyx, which collects urine from the
pyramids.
• Several minor calices merge to form a major calyx.
• Urine passes through the major calices into the renal
pelvis, a flattened and funnel-shaped structure.
• From the renal pelvis, urine drains into the ureter, which
transports it to the bladder for storage.

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 Mechanism of Filtration
• Blood flows into the kidney through the renal artery.
• This large blood vessel branches into smaller and smaller
blood vessels until the blood reaches the nephrons
• Nephrons are located throughout both the renal cortex
(outer layer) and the renal medulla (inner part) of the
kidney.
• While the filtering units (renal corpuscles) are found in
the cortex, the tubule systems extend down into the
medulla to concentrate urine.
• Each kidney contains about one million tiny units called
nephrons.
• Each nephron is made up of a very small filter, called a
glomerulus, which is attached to a tubule.
• As blood passes through the nephron, fluid and waste
products are filtered out.
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• The thin walls of the glomerulus allow smaller
molecules, wastes, and fluid—mostly water—to pass
into the tubule.
• Larger molecules, such as proteins and blood cells,
stay in the blood vessel.
• A blood vessel runs alongside the tubule.
• As the filtered fluid moves along the tubule, the blood
vessel reabsorbs almost all of the water, along with
minerals and nutrients your body needs.
• The tubule helps remove excess acid from the blood.
• The remaining fluid and wastes in the tubule become
urine.

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