Functional Organization of the

Human Body- Chap 1

PROF. MUDASSAR ALI

HEAD OF PHYSIOLOGY, RLMC

PHYSIOLOGY- 2024
 Learning Objectives

At the end of this chapter student should be able to

• Understand the distribution of body fluid.

• Differentiate between extracellular & intracellular fluid.

• Understand the concept of internal environment.

• Define homeostasis & identify components of homeostatic system.

• Understand the importance of homeostasis & mechanism of homeostatic system.

• Explain the control system & types of feedback with examples

• Explain Gain of control system & feed forward control with example.
• Significance of adaptive & feed forward control system
• Differeniate between homeostasis& hemostasis.
 Human body is actually a social order of 100 trillion cells organized
into different functional structures& organs forming system.

• Muscle system
• Cardiovascular system
• Respiratory system
• Blood and immune system
• Skin and appendages
• Digestive system
• Nervous system
• Excretory system
• Reproductive system
• Endocrine system
 Body Composition & Body Fluids

• Adult male
Water 60-65%
Solids 35-40%

• Adult female
Water 50-55% (less due more adipose tissue)
Solids 45-50%

Total quantity of body water in an average human being

weighing about 70 kg is about 42 liters
Compartments Of Body Fluids
Body fluids
(42 liters)
100% or 3 parts

Intracellular fluid (28 Extracellular fluid (14

liters) liters)
55% or 2/3rd 45% or 1/3rd
 Extracellular Fluid Distribution
• It is the fluid outside the cell & is constantly moves throughout the
body.

• It includes blood , which circulates in the vascular system &fluid

present in between the cells called interstitial fluid.

• It is transported rapidly in circulating blood & then mixed between

blood & tissue fluids by diffusion through capillary walls.

• It is 1/3rd of total body fluid (14 liters)

• Its is subdivided as :
1. Interstitial fluid and lymph (10.5 liters)
2. Plasma (3.5 liters)
 Extracellular Fluid—The “Internal
Environment”
• ECF contain nutrients, ions & all other substances necessary for the
survival of the cells

• Internal environment in the body is the extracellular fluid in which

cells live.

• Cells are capable of living, growing & performing special functions as

long as proper concentrations of oxygen, glucose, ions, amino acids,
fatty substances & other constituents are available in this internal
environment

• Importance of internal environment was notified by Claude Bernard.

Concentration of Ions In ICF & ECF
Homeostasis
 Homeostasis

• (Homeo mean same and stasis means standing still) maintenance of

constant conditions in internal environment.

• All organs & tissues perform functions that help to maintain these
constant conditions.

• Lungs provide oxygen to the extracellular fluid, kidneys maintain

constant ion concentrations, Gastrointestinal system provides
nutrients.
 Homeostasis
• Interstitial fluid fills intercellular spaces.

• Capillaries walls are permeable to most

molecules except large plasma protein.

• Large amounts of fluid & its constituents

diffuse back & forth between blood &
tissue spaces.

• Diffusion is caused by kinetic motion of

molecules in plasma & interstitial fluid.

• Extracellular fluid is continually mixed,

maintaining complete homogeneity of
extracellular fluid throughout the body
 Homeostasis

• Respiratory system- O2
Origin of Nutrients in the • Gastrointestinal system
Extracellular Fluid • Liver
• Musculoskeletal system

• Kidney
Removal of Metabolic End Products
• Respiratory system- CO2

• Nervous regulation
Regulation of body systems
• Hormonal regulation
 Control Systems of the Body
• Human body has thousands of control systems in it. Most intricate is genetic control
systems that operate in all cells to help control intracellular function as well as
extracellular function

• Many control systems operate within the organs to control functions of individual
parts of organs; others operate throughout the body.

Examples
• Respiratory system, operating in association with nervous system, regulates
concentration of CO2 in extracellular fluid.

• Liver & pancreas regulate concentration of glucose in ECF.

• Kidneys regulate concentrations of hydrogen, sodium, potassium, phosphate & other

ions in ECF.
Control Systems of the Body
 Importance of Homeostasis

• Concept of homeostasis form basis of physiology because it

explains why various physiological functions are to be
maintained & in case if any function deviates how it is brought
to normal.

• Understanding homeostasis also forms the basis for clinical

diagnostic procedures.

• For example increased body temperature beyond normal range

as in the case of fever, indicates that something is wrong in the
heat production-heat loss mechanism in body.
 Homeostatic System operates in a cyclic manner
Homeostatic system in the body operates in a cyclic manner This
cycle includes four components:

1. Sensor or detectors which recognize the deviation or change.

2. Transmission of this message to a control center

3. Transmission of information the control center to the effectors for

correcting the deviation/change

4. Effectors which correct the deviation.

 Mechanism of Action of Homeostatic System

• Homeostatic mechanism in the body is responsible for

maintaining the normalcy of various body systems.

• Whenever there is any change in behavioral pattern on any

system the effectors bring back the normalcy either by
inhibiting & reversing the change (negative feedback) or by
accelerating (positive feedback) the change depending
upon requirement of the situation.
 Positive feedback System
• A positive feedback system tends to strengthen or reinforce a change
in one of the body’s controlled conditions

• Positive feedback is the one to which the system reacts in such a way
as to increase the intensity of the change in same directions.

• When final result is more then initial stimulus

EXAMPLE
1. Clotting(Platelets Plug Formation)
2. Uterine contraction( Onset of labor/Parturition)
3. Milk ejection reflex
 Onset of labor

Positive feedback
Contraction of
uterus

Movement of fetus Release of oxytocin

into cervix from hypothalamus

Transmission of impulses to
Dilatation of cervix hypothalamus

Movement of fetus Discharge of impulses from

through cervix the receptors

Stimulation of
receptors in cervix
Injury to blood vessel and
bleeding Stopping of bleeding

Formation of
prothrombin activator

Conversion of prothrombin Conversion of fibrinogen into

into thrombin fibrin
Positive Feedback Can Sometimes Cause
Vicious Cycles & Death
 Positive Feedback Can Sometimes Cause Vicious
Cycles and Death

• This figure depicts pumping effectiveness of heart, showing that healthy heart
pumps about 5 liters of blood per minute.

• If person is suddenly bled 2 liters, amount of blood in body is decreased to such a

low level that not enough blood is available for heart to pump effectively.

• As a result, arterial pressure falls & flow of blood to heart muscle through the
coronary vessels diminishes.

• This results in weakening of heart, further diminished pumping, a further decrease in

coronary blood flow & still more weakness of the heart; the cycle repeats itself again
& again until death occurs.
 Negative feedback system
• A negative feedback system reverses a change in a controlled
condition.

• If some factor becomes excessive or deficient, control system initiates

negative feedback, which consists of a series of changes that return the
factor toward a certain mean value, thus maintaining homeostasis.

• ARTERIAL PRESSURE–regulating mechanisms, a high pressure

causes a series of reactions that promote a lowered pressure, or a low
pressure causes a series of reactions that promote an elevated pressure.
In both instances, these effects are negative with respect to the
initiating stimulus.
Negative feedback system
 Inhibition of TSH secretion

Increased Secretion of Decreased secretion of

thyroxine thyroxine

No Normal level of thyroxine

Normal level of thyroxine deviation

Increased secretion of
Decreased secretion of
thyroxine
thyroxine

Stimulation of
TSH Secretion
 Negative feedback system
• REGULATION OF CO2 CONCENTRATION, a high concentration of
CO2 in extracellular fluid increases pulmonary ventilation.

• This decreases extracellular fluid CO2 concentration because lungs expire

greater amounts of CO2 from the body.

• In other words, high concentration of CO2 initiates events that decrease the
concentration toward normal, which is negative to the initiating stimulus.

• If CO2 concentration falls, this causes feedback to increase the

concentration. This response also is negative to the initiating stimulus
Negative Feedback
Body Temperature Regulation
 • GAIN OF A CONTROL SYSTEM.

• Degree of effectiveness with which a control system maintains

constant conditions is determined by gain of negative feedback.

• Let us assume that a large volume of blood is transfused into a person

whose baroreceptor pressure control system is not functioning &
arterial pressure rises from the normal level of 100 mm Hg up to 175
mm Hg.

• Then, same volume of blood is injected into same person when

baroreceptor system is functioning & this time pressure increases
only 25 mm Hg.
• Feedback control system has caused “correction” of −50 mm
Hg—that is from 175 mm Hg-125 mm Hg. There remains an
increase in pressure of +25 mm Hg, called the “error,” which
means that the control system is not 100 percent effective in
preventing change.

• Gain of system is calculated by using formula: Gain=

Correction /Error

• Thus, in example, correction is −50 mm Hg & error persisting is

+25 mm Hg.

• Therefore, gain of person’s baroreceptor system for control of

arterial pressure is −50 divided by +25, or −2.
 Feed forward / adaptive control

• Another type of regulatory process often used in conjunction

with feedback systems is feed forward, in which changes in
regulated variables are anticipated & prepared for before they
actually occur.

• Some movements of body occur so forward rapidly that there is

not enough time for nerve signals to travel from peripheral parts
of body all the way to brain & then back to periphery again to
control the movement.

• Therefore, brain uses a principle called feed-forward control to

cause required muscle contractions.
 Feed forward
• Mechanism that monitors performance inputs rather than output and
reacts so as to maintain a specified state thus preventing or
minimizing problems before they occur

• In feed-forward error is detected before generation.

• Example

• Smell of the food triggers nerve response from the smell receptors in
the nose to GIT. Thus stomach begins to produce acid even before we
consume any food.
• Responding to cold weather by shivering. When thermoreceptors of
skin detect the cold, signals to the body are alerted to be aware of a
possible fall in body temperature.
 Significance Of Adaptive & Feed Forward
Control System

• An adaptive control system is one in which the controller

parameters are adjusted automatically to compensate for
changing process conditions

• An adaptive control system automatically compensates for

variations in system dynamics by adjusting the controller
characteristics so that the overall system performance
remains the same, or rather maintained at optimum level.

• With feed forward control, the disturbances are measured

& accounted for before they have time to affect the system
 Feedback Control System :
• Feedback control system is basically a control system where
output depends on the generated feedback signal.
• Feedback divided into positive feedback & negative
feedback.

Feed forward Control System :

• It rejects the disturbances before they affect the controlled
variable