Human Physiology I

Extracellular Fluid
Physics and chemistry bases of physiology
“Homeostatic” Mechanisms of the Major Functional Systems
How is the animal body organized?
Human Physiology
• In human physiology, we attempt to explain the specific
characteristics and mechanisms of the human body that make it a
living being.
• Cells as the Living Units of the Body. Each organ is an aggregate of
many different cells held together by intercellular supporting
structures. Each type of cell is specially adapted to perform one or a
few particular functions. For instance, the red blood cells, numbering
25 trillion in each human being, transport oxygen from the lungs to
the tissues.
Extracellular Fluid—The “Internal Environment”
• About 60 per cent of the adult human body is fluid, mainly a water solution of ions and other
substances. Although most of this fluid is inside the cells and is called intracellular fluid, about
one third is in the spaces outside the cells and is called extracellular fluid.
• In the extracellular fluid are the ions and nutrients needed by the cells to maintain cell life.
• The extracellular fluid contains large amounts of sodium, chloride, and bicarbonate ions plus
nutrients for the cells, such as oxygen, glucose, fatty acids, and amino acids. It also contains
carbon dioxide that is being transported from the cells to the lungs to be excreted, plus other
cellular waste products that are being transported to the kidneys for excretion.
• The intracellular fluid differs significantly from the extracellular fluid; specifically, it contains large
amounts of potassium, magnesium, and phosphate ions instead of the sodium and chloride ions
found in the extracellular fluid. Special mechanisms for transporting ions through the cell
membranes maintain the ion concentration differences between the extracellular and
intracellular fluids.
Extracellular Fluid Transport and Mixing System—The Blood
Circulatory System
• Extracellular fluid is transported through all parts
of the body in two stages. The first stage is
movement of blood through the body in the blood
vessels, and the second is movement of fluid
between the blood capillaries and the intercellular
spaces between the tissue cells.
“Homeostatic” Mechanisms of the Major Functional Systems

Homeostasis
• The term homeostasis is used by physiologists to mean maintenance
of nearly constant conditions in the internal environment.
• For instance, the lungs provide oxygen to the extracellular fluid to
replenish the oxygen used by the cells, the kidneys maintain constant
ion concentrations, and the gastrointestinal system provides
nutrients.
• Homeostasis (from the Greek homo meaning "similar" and stasis
"state", "stability").
• It is a property of living organisms that consists in its ability to
maintain a stable internal condition by compensating the changes
that occur in its environment through the regulated exchange of
matter and energy with the outside (metabolism).
• Homeostasis is a form of dynamic equilibrium possible thanks to a
network of feedback systems that constitute the mechanisms of self-
regulation of living beings.

INTERNAL MEDIUM: Claude Bernard

(siglo XIX) Stable medium, which bathes all the cells, from which they take
the substances they need and to which they throw their waste products.
Internal medium = extracellular fluid
• There are different regulatory systems that control and maintain
homeostasis.
• Cannon emphasizes that to stay internally stable an animal must
have physiological mechanisms of vigilance to correct deviations of
stability.
• In his own words, he described homeostasis as "the coordinated
physiological processes that maintain most states of the organism
constant"

HOMEOSTASIS and Regulation

( Walter Cannon, siglo XX )
Internal medium and homeostasis -
Characteristics
• The internal environment (extracellular fluid) is kept
under constant conditions: the concentrations of O2 and
CO2, nutrients (glucose, aas, ..), organic waste (urea, urate
...), and ions (Na +, K +, HCO3- ...), as well as T, pH, V and
osmotic pressure, should remain relatively unchanged in
body fluids.
• There is a stable physiological state: balance between the
demands of the organism and the response to these
demands.
HOMEOSTASIS and structural organization
• The animals are structurally dynamic.
• They are organized systems and need energy to
understand that organization.
• The structural property of an animal that persists over
time is the organization of the atomic blocks. It is the
main reason why they need energy.
The second law of thermodynamics affirms that if an isolated system undergoes
changes it will invariably be towards a greater disorder.
How is the animal body organized?
• The coordination of complex body systems is based on a
simple organizational hierarchy of structures:
• Cells Tissues Organs Organic systems
• Animal tissues are composed of cells that perform a
specific function.
• Cells with similar functions are grouped to form:TISSUES
(EPITHELIAL, MUSCLE, NERVOUS, CONJUNCTIVE)
Tejido epitelial
• Cubre la superficies del cuerpo, como la piel, el tracto digestivo, las vías
respiratorias y urinarias, y el sistema circulatorio.
• Consta de capas epiteliales, firmemente adheridas entre sí mediante
conexiones como desmosomas y uniones estrechas.
• Se unen a una lámina no celular subyacente de proteínas fibrosas llamada
membrana basal (lámina basal) compuesta por glucoproteínas y tipos
particulares de colágeno. La membrana basal es secretada por sobre todo por
las células epiteliales, pero también contribuyen las células adyacentes.
Epithelial tissue
• It covers the surfaces of the body, such as the skin, the digestive
tract, the respiratory and urinary tract, and the circulatory system.

• It consists of epithelial layers, firmly adhered to each other by

connections such as desmosomes and tight junctions.

• They bind to an underlying non-cellular of fibrous proteins called

the basement membrane (basal lamina) composed of
glycoproteins and particular types of collagen. The basement
membrane is secreted mostly by the epithelial cells, but adjacent
cells also contribute.
Types of intercell connections
• Narrow Union: A site in which the cell membranes of neighboring
cells are intimately linked so that there is no space between the
cells. The membranes come into contact or fuse with each other.
• Junctions tabicadas: they cover the complete perimeter of the
cell.
• Both are designated as occlusive unions since they block or
occlude the space between the neighboring epithelial cells and
prevent the free passage of liquids on both sides of the
epithelium.
Types of intercell conection
• A desmosome is a union in which adherent glucoprotein filaments
from two different cells interlock in the intercellular space. Its
main function is the strengthening and stabilization of contact
between neighboring cells.
• Slit junctions: at a slit junction there are sites devoid of limiting
cell membrane between two neighboring cells. Certain molecules
such as simple sugars, and ions with a molecular mass less than
1000 to 1500 daltons can pass from one cell to another through
these junctions. They are important for electrophysiological
interactions.
Simple epithelium:
• It presents a single layer of cells. In the human
body they coat the intestine, the renal tubules,
the blood vessels and the sweat glands among
other structures.
• All the cells of a simple epithelium have an
apical surface (mucosa) exposed to a cavity or
an open space, and a basal surface (serosa),
exposed to the underlying tissue to which it is
attached. It rests on a basement membrane
(basal lamina) composed of glycoproteins and
particular types of collagen
Specific simple epithelium
• Formed by cells that line the
small intestine (middle intestine)
of mammals.
• The majority of its cells are
absorptive-digestive.
• Mucin-secreting cells, at least 10
types of endocrine cells that
produce granules of secretory
material, paracrine cells
Epitelio estratificado

It is found mainly on the skin and just

inside the body openings that have a
continuity with the skin, such as the
mouth and anus. The cells at the base of
the stratified epithelium divide rapidly,
giving rise to daughter cells that form
the layers of the surface. They are
covered with mainly keratin proteins.
 Tejido nervioso

• Nerve cells receive and transmit signals.

• Neurons stimulate the contraction of
muscle cells.
• Dendrites specialize in receiving signals
from other neurons.
• The axon carries the output signal from
the neuron to the muscle.
• The synaptic terminals transmit the signal
to the muscle cells.
Nervous tissue
Adipose tissue
Organ systems
• As the cells differentiate, certain groups of cells give rise to more
specialized units to form organs that are composed, in general, of several
tissues formed by cells with the same function.
• The ORGANS are normally formed by the 4 types of tissues: connective
tissue, muscle tissue, nervous tissue and adipose tissue.
Organ systems consist of two or more individual organs (sometimes
located in different regions of the body) that collaborate in the
performance of a common function.
An example is the digestive system, in which the mouth, esophagus,
stomach, intestines and other organs (such as the liver and pancreas)
that provide digestive secretions collaborate to convert food into nutrient
molecules.
Muscle tissue
Consists of contractile cells called muscle fibers
Fibrous proteins within muscle cells (called muscle fibers) of
skeletal muscle causes this tissue, seen under a microscope,
to present "striae".