Anatomy Enrichment

Enrichment Questions

Instructions: This is an honors level course. Answer all questions fully using complete sentences. If you want full credit, please provide plenty of details.

1. How is the concept of homeostasis related to aging and disease? Provide examples to support your thinking.

To maintain homeostasis, the body is constantly changing. To do so, cells divide, reproduce, and shed. As they do this, they lose telomeres and the body ages. And, as the body ages, it becomes harder to maintain homeostasis because organs become naturally less efficient with age. If one factor goes out of balance it affects the whole body. For example, if the body receives too much water the kidneys may be overtaxed and unable to expel the excess fluid- causing swelling or edema. Or, if nominal negative feedback mechanisms in the cardiovascular system become overwhelmed, positive feedback mechanisms can take over and result in heart failure.

2. When we are dehydrated, we are thirsty and drink water. Is this part of negative or positive feedback control systems? Explain your reasoning.

Drinking water when dehydrated represents a negative feedback loop. The dehydrated body (receptor) sends the signal to the brain (control center) that it needs water. The brain then sends orders to the body (the effector) to produce a response to the threat of dehydration- feeling thirsty. Once you drink water, you make a change in the opposite direction of the original stimulus. Therefore, the feedback loop is negative.

If the loop were positive, the control center would’ve kept demanding increasing responses from the effector to continue feeling discomfort- even once the thirst was dealt with.

3. Why would you have a hard time understanding physiology if you did not also understand anatomy?

Anatomy teaches where the parts of the body are. And, because Physiology is the study of what the parts of the body do, it’s advantageous to know where they are to...