Topic 16: Homeostasis Flashcards
(58 cards)
What is homeostasis
The maintaining of a constant internal environment within an organism
Give three reasons why homeostasis is important
- To ensure the enzymes in your body that control biochemical reactions do not become affected by temperature and pH
- To ensure the water potential of cells remains constant so they do not lyse or crenate (burst or shrivel)
- By maintaining a constant internal environment organisms can handle a wide variety of external environments
State the parts of a control mechanisms that is self regulating
- Stimulus
- Receptor
- Coordinator
- Effector
- Feedback Mechanism
What are the two types of feedback
- Negative Feedback
- Positive Feedback
Briefly explain negative feedback
When the change produced leads back to the original (optimum point)
Briefly explain Positive Feedback
When the change produced leads further away from the optimum point
Give some examples of Negative feedback systems
- Temperature control
- Blood gluose control
- pH regulation
- Osmoregulation
- Hormone regulation
- Blood pressure regulation
Give some examples of positive feedback systems
- Birth
- Depolarisation in neurones
- Blood Clotting
- Milk Production
- Fever production
What is a consequence of your core temperature being too high
- H-bonds within the tertiary structure of the enzymes break
- Enzymes denature ad the active site is no longer complementary to the substrate
- So less Enzyme-Substrate complexes are formed
What is a consequence of your core temperature being too low
- Enzymes and substrates have less Thermal energy
- Less Kinetic energy
- So fewer Enzyme-Substrate complexes form
Why is it important to maintain pH within your body
- Any deviation in pH will break the bonds (H-bonds, ionic) within the tertiary structure of your enzymes
- So the enzyme denatures
- The active site changes shape, so it is no longer complementary to the substrate
- Less E-S complexes formed
Explain what happens when your blood glucose is too low (hypoglycaemia)
- Less glucose for respiration
- Less ATP is produced
- Processes requiring energy are less efficient/ cannot occur
- Death
Explain what happens when your blood glucose is too high (hyperglycaemia)
- Too much glucose will lower the water potential in your blood
- So water moves from the tissue into the blood via osmosis
- The kidneys will not be able to absorb all of the glucose
- So more water is lost in urin -> dehydration
Explain what happens in a positive feedback system
(3 marks)
- Receptors detect a change/ deviation from the regular parameters
- The effectors will respond to amplify the change
- Resulting in a greater deviation from the normal
What are hormones
Chemical messengers that coordinate a response
What produces hormones and where do they function
Produced in the endocrine glands
Move into the blood and function in the muscle / tissue they are targeting
What are two factors that influence your blood glucose levels
- Consumption of carbohydrates
- Rate of respiration
What part of the pancrease will release hormones for the regulation of blood glucose
Islets of Langerhans
What are the three hormones involved in the regulation of blood glucose
- Insulin
- Glucagon
- Adrenaline
What three processes does the liver undergo to regulate blood glucose
- Glycogenesis
- Glycogenolysis
- Gluconeogenesis
What happens with adrenaline when your body detects danger
- Adrenaline is released by your adrenal glands
- This results in more glucose being released from your glycogen stores in the liver
What happens in glycogenesis
Excess glucose is converted into glycogen
What happens in Glycogenolysis
Glycogen is hydrolysed back into glucose
What happens in gluconeogenesis
Glucose is created from non-carbohydrate stores in the liver