GENERAL PHYSIOLOGY

LECTURE | 1ST SEMESTER Aug. 24 & 29

2024
BS BIO 3-1 TAN & MORA INSTRUCTOR: A. KIKUCHI

41: Introduction: Life Processes in Plants and Animals

A1 Importance of Physiology

CHAPTER OUTLINE:
I. Introduction to Physiology • Fundamental biology of animals and plant
a. Importance of Physiology o Their inner workings
b. Approaches to Physiology o We should be able to explain on why
c. Level of Organization biological phenomenon occurs
d. Physiology’s Two Central Questions • Human health and diseases
II. Major Concepts in Physiology o By knowing the processes of these
a. Important Animal Features biological phenomena, we are able to
i. Structural Dynamism intervene.
ii. Organization o Ex. Blood Pressure. By understanding
iii. Time and Body Size hemodynamics, we are able to
b. Adaptation understand when the symptoms of
c. Homeostasis hypertension would occur.
d. • Health and disease of nonhuman animals of
importance in human affairs
o Focuses on environmental effects, to
A Introduction to Physiology explain the function and behavior of
animals
Physiology o Ex. Pacific Salmon, to explain if they have
• Physiology is the study of function. the capability to migrate upriver, since it
• Plant physiology is interested in the processes on opposes the force
how a plant grows, how they develop from
primordial cells, and how they function. This
function is important because they interact with the
physical and living environment.
• Animal physiology involves on how animals work,
like bird migration (such as bioenergetics, or how
they utilize their energy).
• Physiology is involved in explaining biological
phenomenon and their purpose.

o The idea of modeling. In modeling, you do

research for non-human organisms
before you conduct experiments in human
trials
o Ex. Study on Squid (Hodgkin–Huxley
model). The physiology of the squid was
used in human applications and medicine.
Squids have huge nerve fibers, in which
they were able to study action potential

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GENERAL PHYSIOLOGY
LECTURE | 1ST SEMESTER Aug. 24 & 29
2024
BS BIO 3-1 TAN & MORA INSTRUCTOR: A. KIKUCHI
and understand its transmission. They o The ways in which physiology and ecology
were able to model the movement of ions interact, in the present and during
through study of squid neurons. evolutionary time.
o What physiological traits allows an
organism to survive in a specific
environment or geographical location.
• Integrative Physiology
o The importance of all levels of organization
for the full understanding of physiological
systems.
o Integration of the different levels of
organization from the molecular level.
• Subdiscipline of Physiology based on Level of
Organization
o Cellular and Molecular Physiology
▪ Focuses on biomolecules, protein,
carbohydrates, lipids, nucleic
acids, etc.
▪ Focuses on organelles, and cell
types (neurons, muscle cells,
epithelial cells, etc.).
A2 Approaches to Physiology o Systems Physiology
▪ Organ systems based
▪ How different organ systems
• Mechanistic Physiology
respond or react with each other
o The mechanisms by which animals
o Organismal Physiology
perform their life-sustaining functions.
▪ How an organism affects another.
o Step-by-step process (mechanism)
▪ Ex. prey and predator, transfer of
through analysis and dissection.
diseases etc.
• Evolutionary Physiology
o Ecological Physiology
o The evolution and adaptive significance of
▪ How the abiotic and biotic factors
physiological traits
coexist with each other and their
o It has a temporal aspect (evolves over
impact.
time), can survive specific conditions
o Integrative Physiology
fitness) and can reproduce.
▪ Study at different levels
o Study of physiological traits that it has now,
(molecular, cellular, etc.)
that will be advantageous for that
• Subdiscipline of Physiology based on Processes
biological organism.
that Generate Variation
• Comparative Physiology
o Developmental Physiology
o The ways in which diverse phylogenetic
▪ Focuses on how changes occur
groups of animals both resemble each
from an original cell and how it
other and differ.
varies with response to a
o There is an aspect of comparison.
changing environment
o Ex. Idea of Use and Disuse. Why a specific
o Environmental Physiology
organ exists between two groups, its
▪ Focuses on the effect of
function, and why it is lost.
environment of physiological
• Environmental Physiology
function and the organism’s
performance

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GENERAL PHYSIOLOGY
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BS BIO 3-1 TAN & MORA INSTRUCTOR: A. KIKUCHI
▪ Ex. an individual migrates to a • In the organismal level, a prey exerting more effort
higher altitude what would be its to escape from the predator
effect on the respiratory o 2 possible events – failure of escape will
physiology result to death and success of escape will
o Evolutionary Physiology result to life and future reproduction
▪ Different physiological traits that o What physiological trait does the prey
have an impact on evolution or have so that it still exists now
why it still exists today • In the cellular level of organization, it involves the
skeletal muscle cells.
• In the biochemical level, it focuses on the energy
A3 Level of Organization utilized and the process involved to contract the
muscle.

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GENERAL PHYSIOLOGY
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2024
BS BIO 3-1 TAN & MORA INSTRUCTOR: A. KIKUCHI

• Evolution
o Physical separation (geographical
location) of the salmon is a driving force
for evolution.
o In the graph, it shows that there is a genetic
difference in the population as a function
of their distance within each other.
o What exists in a specific region that causes
the animal to adapt that results to • The orientation of the plant organism due to
changes in the genetic level as a stresses in the geographical location and that
consequence of adaptation processes. function of the force of wind. In a lower
• Chemistry and physics organizational level, there are changes in the
o Ex. Prey and predator. How an aerial prey structure of the macromolecules.
can escape from the predator, they take • Insect movements on modified leaves (such as
advantage of physics (Thrust – Dag = Venus fly trap) will trigger sensitive channels in the
Mass x Acceleration = Force); hair of the plant that causes the closure of the leaf.
o To understand if the movement of the prey • The difference in the taste of different mangoes due
is enough to surpass the predator. to soil content and environmental condition.
o Ex. Cellular respiration.
• Physiology A3 Physiology’s Two Central Questions
o To describe how to propagate an action
1. What is the mechanism by which a function is
potential in the nerve cell.
accomplished, and
o The initiation of action potential is
2. How did that mechanism come to be?
transferred through the system (nerves,
spinal cord, etc.). The innervations will
distribute the electrical impulse
responsible for muscle contraction.
o In this case, muscle contraction is for
swimming.
o In the cellular and molecular level, it is
related to cellular respiration to generate
ATP used for muscle contraction.
o In the ecological level, the different water • Why individuals near the equator has a different
conditions cause a modification (different phenotype, generally a darker skin color.
physiological traits) in the gill epithelium. • As a consequence of their geographical location,
they are more exposed to light.
• Higher exposure to light stimulates the production
of melanin that results in a darker skin color.
• Q2: Melanin absorbs light for their protection of
basal cells, that causes the damaging effects of UV
light is absorbed by the pigment to prevent
mutagenic effects of UV light such as skin cancers

• To explain the light production or emission of

firefly.
• This is due to the trachea bringing oxygen gas to
each light cell.

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GENERAL PHYSIOLOGY
LECTURE | 1ST SEMESTER Aug. 24 & 29,
2024
BS BIO 3-1 TAN & MORA INSTRUCTOR: A. KIKUCHI

B Major Concepts in Physiology

• Animal Energetics

o Anabolic and catabolic processes

• Respiration and Circulation

o Interested in the different conversion of

energy
• Control and Coordination

o Cellular respiration in the cellular level

o At higher levels, the gas exchange from
environment to the wind pipe
o On why some animals can survive in lower
oxygen conditions and higher altitudes
o From action potential transmitted • Osmoregulation and Excretion
throughout the body
• Movement

o Related to the maintenance of your

internal environment, ions.
o With response to different stimulus, such o Excretion is involved in metabolic wastes
as light
o Another example is migration.
• Metabolism

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GENERAL PHYSIOLOGY
LECTURE | 1ST SEMESTER Aug. 24 & 29,
2024
BS BIO 3-1 TAN & MORA INSTRUCTOR: A. KIKUCHI

• Thermoregulation • Material boundaries between an animal and

environment
• An animal is not a discrete material object
o Ex. Calcification process. The theory of
conservation of mass: if an organism does
not exchange materials with the
environment, it will not grow
o Ex. Consumption of calcium, phosphate
and Vit D from the food that is from the
environment.

o Involved in regulatory mechanisms

(anatomical, fur, different fat storage)
• Sensory System

o Interested on how organisms detect

specific stimulus that is important for
survival.

B1 Important Animal Features

B1.2 Organization
1. Structurally dynamic
2. Organized in systems that require energy to
• If an animal’s atomic building blocks are transient
maintain their organization
and constantly changing, by what structural
3. Both time and body size are of fundamental
property is it defined?
significance in the lives of all animals
o It is defined by the level of organization.
B1.1 Structural Dynamism o The components change but the structure
itself does not.
• The structural property of an animal that persists
• The dynamic state of body constituents (Rudolf
through time is the organization of its atomic
Schoenheimer).
building blocks, not the building blocks themselves.
o The consequence of the ability of
• An animal is defined by its organization
biological systems to exchange materials
• This characteristic of animals provides the most
with the environment
fundamental reason why animals require inputs pf
o An organisms’ constituents are not
energy throughout life
constant.
• The second law of thermodynamics says that for
o An organism consumes constituents from
organization to be maintained in a dynamic
the environment and also excretes them.
system, use of energy is essential

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GENERAL PHYSIOLOGY
LECTURE | 1ST SEMESTER Aug. 24 & 29,
2024
BS BIO 3-1 TAN & MORA INSTRUCTOR: A. KIKUCHI

B1.3 Time and Body Size

• Time is a critical concept in physiology – animals
invariably change from time to time
• Five time frames in which physiology changes
• Changes in physiology that are responses to
changes in the external environment
1. Acute changes
▪ Short term – introduced
o No plasticity – constant trait even with a
environmental stimuli causes a
changing environment
change but is abruptly brought
o Plasticity – changes in the trait in response
back to its original state
to the changing environment
2. Chronic changes
o Highly variable plasticity – some traits can
▪ There is an adjustment which
be beneficial while some are constant with
cause the physiological trait to
no improvement
change longer due to a delay
3. Evolutionary changes
▪ There is a genotypic change
manifesting as the characteristic
• Changes in physiology that are internally
programmed to occur whether or not the external
environment changes
4. Developmental changes
o Ex. Puberty. It occurs whether there
is an environmental change or not
5. Changes controlled by periodic biological
clocks
o With relation to hormones
• Phenotypic plasticity: the ability of an individual
animal (a single genotype) to express two or more
genetically controlled phenotypes.
o Acclimation
▪ There is a new environment
different from the preceding o There is a structural difference then a
environment physiological difference.
▪ There is a change in a very short • Biological clocks
period of time o Programmed change
▪ Usually occurs in laboratory o At certain periods of time within a day,
settings. there are highly expressed/produced
o Acclimatization hormones during day or night
▪ Related to chronic change. ▪ Which causes a varying
▪ Does not occur abruptly physiology in an individual
▪ There is a change in characteristic o Secretion of hormones have a pattern and
in response to the changing causes abrupt changes physiologically.
environment

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GENERAL PHYSIOLOGY
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2024
BS BIO 3-1 TAN & MORA INSTRUCTOR: A. KIKUCHI

development of the anatomical features of

the offspring

B2 Adaptation

• Environment
o Internal

▪ Between blood and cell

o External

▪ Between environment and lungs

• “A relationship exists between them”
• Body size is one of an animal’s most important • Two principal types of relation between internal
traits and external environments
o The bigger an organism, the longer the o Conformity
weeks of gestation that is important for the

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GENERAL PHYSIOLOGY
LECTURE | 1ST SEMESTER Aug. 24 & 29,
2024
BS BIO 3-1 TAN & MORA INSTRUCTOR: A. KIKUCHI

▪ Change in internal temperature • Within the range, cells show optimal performance.
also result in change in external
temperature
▪ It is following the energy gradient,
thus it is not energy extensive.
o Regulation
▪ Internal temperature is constant
regardless of change in external
temperature
▪ It is more energy demanding

• Receptor: As the name signifies, they sense the

external or internal change in the surrounding.
Receptors further activate the cascade to start the
reactions to maintain homeostasis.
• Control Center: It is also known as an integration
center. It receives the information for the receptor
and processes it.
• Effector: These work according to the control center
giving commands to the effector cell. According to
the command, it can decrease or enhance the
stimulus.

In a steady state there is no changes or input (in a stage of

balance). However, for certain conditions, there will be a
“push” or change called stimulus.

• Stimulus: Anything described in a system that

caused a change in a variable.

Because of that the organism cannot stay long in that range

or else it will be in a diseased stage or worse in death stage
if not reestablished.
C Homeostasis
Thus, being a biological entity existing should have an
Cannon introduced and defined the term homeostasis – he adaptive positive process in order to survive which is called
intended it to mean not just internal constancy, but also the homeostasis.
existence of regulatory systems that automatically make
adjustments to maintain internal constancy. This change is detected by a receptor, which serves as a
receiver of input signal that transmit towards the different
• Homeostasis: The coordinated physiological pathways of a biological system.
process which maintain most of the [constant]
states in the organism. o chemical receptor
o pressure receptor

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GENERAL PHYSIOLOGY
LECTURE | 1ST SEMESTER Aug. 24 & 29,
2024
BS BIO 3-1 TAN & MORA INSTRUCTOR: A. KIKUCHI

Because of the detection, input information will be sent to blood glucose level is prolonged, it will
the control center which is usually the brain. cause different changes in the way the
body responds. For example, it may
The brain will dictate or establish what are the necessary
develop oxidizing species that can
adjustments needed to bring the system back to its normal
damage cells; in diabetics, there will be an
state.
impairment in wound repair. Thus, the
There will be an output signal. The information sent along body should return to a normal blood
different pathways to produce a response initiated by the glucose level.
effector, can be an organ. o As a response, chemical receptors will
detect that blood glucose is elevated and
The goal is to go back to the particular range or to the set then will be processed by the brain,
point or else there will be a deviation and if prolonged can initiating a response that will send a trigger
lead to a diseased state. to the pancreas
o The pancreas has data cells that will
C1 Negative Feedback release insulin into the blood
• Discovered by Claude Bernard in studies of blood
• Insulin: promotes glycogen synthesis from glucose in
glucose
the process called glycogenesis
• Controls systems by keeping the controlled
o The liver also responds to insulin. It takes
variable constant or relatively constant.
up glucose and stores it as glycogen,
• Negative Feedback: System responds to changes
which is a stored form of glucose
by bringing the variable back to its set point,
molecules. Because of this, blood glucose
opposing deviations
level declines
• Set Point: The level at which the controlled variable
• 2 Condition
nd
is maintained
o When blood glucose level fails after over
• Feedback: System uses information on the variable
fasting because of zero intake. T
to govern actions
o This will be detected by chemoreceptors,
and it will signal the brain that blood
glucose level is low.
o Because of this, the brain will signal to the
pancreas to secrete glucagon.
• Alpha cells: Found inside the pancreas and secrete
glucagon
• Glucagon: promotes glycogen breakdown to glucose
in the process called glycogenolysis
o Because of this, the stored complex
carbohydrate (glycogen) will be broken
down into glucose
o Thus, blood glucose level rises and will go
back to the normal physiological condition
or within the set point
• Homeostasis (glucose levels): 90mg/100mL – set • 3rd Condition
point or normal condition of the body o When body temperature fails, this will be
• 1st condition detected by temperature centers in the
o As a consequence of a high sugar intake, brain.

for example, a carbohydrate source is

consumed, the body will detect elevated
blood glucose. It cannot stay elevated for
a long that because a hyperglycemic level
is a state of inflammation. When elevated

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GENERAL PHYSIOLOGY
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BS BIO 3-1 TAN & MORA INSTRUCTOR: A. KIKUCHI

o In nerve cells, small voltage changes lead

to greater changes

o Example: The stimulus is pain in the skin

when pinched
• What is the role of fluid (sweat), why did the body
▪ Skin has many pain receptors
secrete it twice?
o Enough pressure will trigger the activation
o Water molecules have substantial heat
of receptors
capacity, and it has specific values
o There will be an initial membrane
▪ Capable of containing heat
depolarization or the inner stimuli
(energy)
▪ Can control the amount of water to o The voltage gated channels are triggered
release or conserve heat by current or the movement of ions. Thus,
o Fluid through sweat can regulate the there will be an opening of sodium
amount of energy within the body by channels
releasing or conserving water that contains o There will be an increase in sodium flow
heat or energy through the membrane and will
o It helps distribute important particles continually open until the delivery of
throughout the body via convection action potential is done from that specific
region
C2 Positive Feedback • 2nd Condition
• Reinforces deviations of a controlled variable from its
setpoint
o Exacerbation
• Less common in physiological systems but still
significant
• Examples:
o Action potentials in nerve cells
o Birth process in mammals
• 1st Condition

o In childbirth, contractions induce

hormonal signals for more intense
contractions
o In this case, the hormonal signal
(oxytoxin) will increase until the baby is
expelled.
o Mechanical stretching is the stimulus

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GENERAL PHYSIOLOGY
LECTURE | 1ST SEMESTER Aug. 24 & 29,
2024
BS BIO 3-1 TAN & MORA INSTRUCTOR: A. KIKUCHI

o This is detected by mechano receptors in ▪ Fibrin will form the blood clot
the cervix and causes the impulse to be seen in wounds
sent to the brain, which is again the o This prevents blood loss
control system o The activation of coagulating factors
o The brain will send an outward signal to increases until the system is stabilized
stimulate the pituitary gland to release
oxytocin D External Environment
• Oxytocin • Temperature
o A hormone that induces contraction
▪ Will be delivered to the blood
system and uterus
▪ Binds to the receptor in the uterus
and will initiate another
contraction
o Because of this, the baby will be pushed
towards the cervix
o This initial stimulus will excacerbate and
will cause further signaling to the brain,
increasing the production of oxytocin upto o There is a variation to the distribution of the
a point wherein the baby will be expelled number of species depending on the
• 3rd Condition terrestrial temperature
o They are usually inclined towards the
equator
o If the species is closer to the equator, it
needs to maintain an internal temperature
that is fitting to its physiological range
▪ This maintains optimal protein
activity, which is energy extensive
o Because of this, there is a movement away
from these regions, since all animals want
to conserve energy
o However, there are extremes or organisms
that develop mechanisms to conserve
o Coagulation cascade energy. For example, in too hot or too cold
o The stimuli is the damage to the skin conditions
o The body will initiate a mechanism to ▪ Canadian tiger swallowtail: a
protect itself from losing too much blood species of butterfly that lives
o As a consequence, there will be a farthest from the equator
tightening of blood vessels ▪ Tardigrades (water bears):
o Followed by the coagulation cascade Considered as extremophiles.
▪ Extrinsic pathway Have abundant heat soluble
▪ Intrinsic pathway proteins that change
o When there is an activation of inactive conformation depending on the
factor X, this will trigger other coagulation conditions
factors. Activation will increase upto a o In dehydration state, there is condensation
point leading to the activation of of proteins. This state is energy saving
Prothrombin to Thrombin which will lead ▪ Facilitates protective factors in the
to the activation of of Fibrinogen to Fibrin animal

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GENERAL PHYSIOLOGY
LECTURE | 1ST SEMESTER Aug. 24 & 29,
2024
BS BIO 3-1 TAN & MORA INSTRUCTOR: A. KIKUCHI

• Oxygen o Temperature is related to density

o Oxygen and temperature are the present
external variable here
• What is the importance of oxygen inside a living
system? Why is it important to maintain into a
specific saturation?
o In the generation of ATP, a big bulk of it is
ETC and the final electron acceptor is
Oxygen
o Because of the depletion of oxygen in living
organism cannot be prolonged because
there will be a deviation in the parts that
o High elevations have less oxygen in them need energy
due to air pressure being low ▪ Ex. In channels and pumps, which
o Example: When climbing in a high altitude are important in maintaining
area, you would expect decreased oxygen osmolarity or the internal
concentration or thinner air concentration of ions
o Because of this, the body will have a • Water (including solutes)
compensatory mechanism to adapt to the o Water is not purely just H2O, but also
changes in the external environment include dissolved solutes or particles;
especially ions
o Since there are organisms that are
submerged or living in bodies of water and
it becomes their immediate environment,
the concentration of solutes or ions within
it plays a really important role
o It can be observed in osmoregulation in
marine fish and freshwater fish

o Oxygen below surface

o As the depth increases, oxygen
concentration decreases
o As a consequence, different physiological o Marine fish resides in high concentration
mechanisms in organisms can be of salt ion
observed in each region o There will be a cycle
o There is also a decline in temperature ▪ In structural dynamism, there is an
o Access to sunlight also affects this exchange of material within two
• Aeration: movement of surface water environments
▪ Formation of dissolved oxygen or o There is gain of water and salt ion from
the oxygen molecules enter the food and sea water surrounding
water o Because of high concentration of sodium
o There will be a separation as a chloride in salt water, there will be an
consequence of different temperatures in increase in the concentration of sodium
different regions

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GENERAL PHYSIOLOGY
LECTURE | 1ST SEMESTER Aug. 24 & 29,
2024
BS BIO 3-1 TAN & MORA INSTRUCTOR: A. KIKUCHI

and chloride in the blood or internal

environment of this system
o Thus, set point should be maintained by
the process of osmoregulation
o The possible mechanism for this is through
the excretion of salt ions from the gills and
the release of osmotic water loss through
the gills and other particles
o Water carries the ion solute
o Another one is through the excretory
system
o Osmoregulation is important because it
dictates the movement of water in the
extracellular vs the intracellular
environment
o As compared to marine fish, freshwater
fish gain majority of their ions and water
through their food
▪ The contribution of external water
environment is only minimal
o Because of this, there is an intake or inward
flow
o Majority of their excretion process of salt
water and ions is through their diluted
kidney

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