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Introduction to physiology
Physiology
➢ Physiology: Science that is concerned with the function of the living organism and its parts, and of the
physical and chemical processes involved.
➢ It is a branch of biology science that deals with the normal functions of the living organism.

Functional Organization of the Body

➢ How IS THE BODY ORGANIZED?
- Chemical: Molecules composed of atoms.
✓ The body is organized in different levels! Now if we start from the simplest level to the most
complex, simplest level we have the atoms, and the atoms will combine to form molecules.
- Cellular: Cells are basic unit of life.
- Tissue: multiple cells will form the tissue
- Organ: multiple tissue will form the organ
- Body system: multiple organs will form the system.
- Organism: the most complex level
➢ The Molecules will combine to form the cells and multiple cells will form the tissue, multiple tissues will
form an organ, multiple organs will form body systems which will form the human body or the organism.
➢ So, the most complex level is the organism which is composed of different organs.

Now let’s talk about each level in details.

Cell
➢ The cell is the Fundamental unit of life.
- The cell is the basic unit of life and is considered as a building block of all living organisms.
- The human body is composed of trillions of cells that provide a structure for the body.

➢ It has all properties of being alive:

1- Responds to stimuli.
2- Engages in metabolic activity.
3- Reproduces itself because it contains the genetic material.
➢ All tissues and organs in body are formed of cells.

❖ The components of the cell:

1- Cytoplasm: which is made up of jelly-like fluid that is
called Cytosol.
2- Cytoskeleton: which is a network of fibers that make up
the cell’s structural framework which means the cytoskeleton
is important to determine the shape of the cell and also direct
the movement of organelles.
3- Endoplasmic reticulum: “appears with yellow color”. It is
important because it transports molecules to their specific
destination.
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 4- Golgi apparatus: “appears with brown color”. It is important in packing the molecules that were
already processed by the ER and transports them out of the cell.
5- Lysosomes: that digest the foreign bacteria that invade the cells and also get rid of the toxic
substances.
6- Mitochondria: “appears with dark red color”. It converts the energy from food to a form that the cell
can use. A unique feature of the mitochondria is that it has its own genetic material.
7- Nucleus: The command center in the cell “appears with purple color”.
- It sends directions to the cell to grow and divide. It also it houses (contains) the DNA (the genetic
Material) and its surrounding membrane is called nuclear envelope in order to protect the DNA.
8- Plasma membrane: “cell membrane” which is the outer lining of the cell. It separates the cell from
its environment and allow the materials to enter and leave the cell.
9- Ribosomes: are organelles that process the cells genetic instructions in order to create the proteins.

❖ Based on the number of cells, Organisms could be:

1. Unicellular organisms: living entities that have only one cell, like the amoeba.
2. Multicellular organisms: multiple cells will form the tissues and multiple tissues will form the organs
and multiple organs will form the organism.
Basic cell function
➢ Obtain nutrients and oxygen from surrounding environment (Main function).
➢ Perform chemical reactions that provide energy for the cell.
➢ Eliminate carbon dioxide and other wastes to surrounding environment.
➢ Synthesize needed cellular components.
➢ Control exchange of materials between cell and its surrounding environment
➢ Sensing and responding to changes in surrounding environment.
➢ Reproduction
- Exception: Nerve and muscle cells lose their ability to reproduce during their early development.
Types of cells
➢ We have different types of cells in our bodies:
- White blood cells: which is type of blood cells that is responsible
for fighting any foreign bodies that enter the body.
- Nerve cells: have different shapes, composed of axon, dendrites
and cell body.
- Muscle cells: which are the basic unit of the muscle tissue (group
of muscle cells will form the muscular tissue).
- Sperms cells: which composed of the head and the tail.
Tissue
➢ Group of cells will form tissue. This group of cells have the similar structure and specialized function.
➢ In our body we have mainly four primary types of tissues:
1- Muscular tissue
2- Nervous tissue
3- Epithelial tissue
4- Connective tissue
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 Muscular Tissue
➢ Produces movement in body by contracting.
➢ Composed of individual muscle cells called muscle fibers (thin
elongated cells).
➢ The cytoplasm in the muscle fiber is called Sarcoplasm.
➢ Three types of muscle tissue:
1. Skeletal muscle
- Attached to bones and moves the skeleton.
- Voluntary control.

2. Cardiac muscle
- Only in the heart.
- Pumps blood out of the heart (the contraction of the cardiac muscle Pumps blood outside the heart to
supply the body organs with the oxygenated blood).
- Involuntary control.

3. Smooth muscle
- Internal organs like intestine and uterus.
- Encloses and controls movement of contents through hollow tubes and organs.
- Involuntary control.
Epithelial Tissue
➢ Known as epithelium.
➢ Consists of cells specialized for exchanging materials between the cell and its environment.
➢ Found as lining for internal organs and covering for the skin.
➢ Functions:
- Form a protective barrier – skin.
- Absorb – lining of intestine.
- Secrete – sweat glands.
- Excrete wastes – kidney tubules.
Connective Tissue
➢ Connects, supports, and anchors various body parts.
➢ Having relatively few cells dispersed within an abundance of extracellular
material that contain protein fiber like collagen or elastin protein.
➢ Examples
- Tendons
- Bone
- Blood
- Adipose (fatty tissue)
Nervous Tissue or nerve tissue
➢ It regulates all body function.
➢ Consists of cells specialized for initiating and transmitting electrical impulses (neurons).
➢ Found in brain, spinal cord, and nerves.
➢ Allows for conduction of electrical impulses between brain and rest of the body to regulate the body
function.
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➢ The structure of nerve
- Cell body which contains the nucleus, cytoplasm and the
organelles.
- Axon and the end of axon we have dendrites.
- Dendrites are highly branched processes that are responsible for
receiving information from the other neurons.

➢ The information of a neuron passes through it from the dendrites across

the cell body down to the axon.
Organs
➢ Consist of two or more types of primary tissues that function together to perform a
particular function or functions.
➢ Example: Stomach, that is composed of different type of tissues:
- Inside (inner lining) of stomach lined with epithelial tissue.
- Wall of stomach contains smooth muscle (the contraction of the smooth
muscles will help in movement of food material that presents in the stomach
down to the other parts of the GI).
- Nervous tissue in stomach controls muscle contraction and gland secretion (like gastric secretion that is
important in digestion of food).
- Connective tissue binds all the above tissues together (found between other tissues everywhere in the
body.)
Body systems
➢ Groups of organs that perform related functions and interact to accomplish a common activity essential to
survival of the whole body.
➢ Body systems do NOT act in isolation from one another.
❖ Human body has 11 systems:
1. Circulatory System
- Consists of heart (cardiac) and blood vessels.
2. Digestive System (from the oral cavity to the anus)
- Consists of oral cavity, esophagus, stomach, small intestine, large intestine, rectus, and anus.
3. Respiratory System
- Consist of nasal cavity, larynx, trachea, bronchi, and alveoli.
4. Urinary System
- Function: production of urine
- Consists of the two kidneys and specific lobular system.
5. Skeletal System
- Consists of the bones, joints...etc.
6. Muscular System
- Consist of muscles
7. Integumentary System
- Consist of skin, hair, nails

8. Immune System
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 - Consists of cells that protect the body from foreign materials (Such as: bacteria and viruses).
- It is divided into two categories: Non-specific immune system (found in blood) and Specific
immune system.
9. Nervous System
- Consists of brain and neurons (CNS) and peripheral nervous system (PNS).
- It is responsible of control for short time span.
10 Endocrine system:
- Control for long period
11 Reproductive System:
- Responsible for reproduction and appearance of secondary sexual characteristics.
Homeostasis
➢ Maintenance of a relatively stable internal environment.
➢ Doesn’t mean that composition, temperature, and other
characteristics are absolutely unchanging!
➢ Crucial for survival and function of all cells.
➢ Each cell contributes to maintenance of a relatively stable
internal environment.
✓ The doctor read this diagram without any additions.
❖ Factors homeostatically regulated include:
- Concentration of nutrient molecules
- Concentration of O 2 and CO 2
- Concentration of waste products
- pH
- Concentration of water, salt, and other electrolytes
- Volume and pressure
- Temperature
➢ Homeostasis is a property of a human biological system where the self-regulating process tends to maintain
the balance for the survival. The regulation takes place in a defined internal environment.
❖ What happens when there is imbalance?
1- Stimulus: produces change in variable
2- Change detected by receptor.
3- Input: information sent along different pathway to the control system
4- Output: information sent along efferent pathway to effector
5- Response of effector feeds back to influence magnitude of stimulus and returns variable to homeostasis.
Body Fluids
➢ Body cells are contained in watery internal environment through which life sustaining exchanges are made.
❖ Extracellular fluid (ECF)
- Fluid environment in which the cells live (fluid outside the cells)
- Plasma, interstitial fluid
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❖ Intracellular fluid (ICF)
- Fluid contained within all body cells.

Contributions of Body Systems to Homeostasis

❖ Circulatory system: Transport materials from one part of the body to another.
❖ Digestive system
- Breaks down dietary food into smaller molecules that
can be distributed to body cells.
- Transfers water and electrolytes from external
environment to internal environment.
- Eliminates undigested food residues to external
environment in the feces.

❖ Respiratory system
- Gets O 2 from and eliminates CO 2 to the external
environment.
- Maintains proper pH of internal environment.

❖ Urinary system: Removes excess water, salt, acid, and other electrolytes from plasma and eliminates them
in urine.

❖ Skeletal system
- Provides support and protection for soft tissues and organs.
- Serves as storage reservoir for calcium.
- Enables movement of body and its parts.
- Bone marrow is ultimate source of all blood cells.

❖ Muscular system: Moves the bones.

❖ Integumentary system
- Serves as outer protective barrier.
- Important in regulating body temperature.

❖ Immune system
- Defends against foreign invaders and against body cells that have become cancerous.
- Paves way for repairing or replacing injured or worn-out cells.

❖ Nervous system
- Controls and coordinates bodily activities that require rapid responses.
- Detects and initiates reactions to changes in external environment.
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❖ Reproductive system
- Not essential for homeostasis (not essential for survival of individual).
- Is essential for sustaining the species.

❖ Endocrine system
- Secreting glands of endocrine regulate activities that require duration rather than speed.
- Controls concentration of nutrients and, by adjusting kidney function, controls internal environment’s
volume and electrolyte composition.
Role of Body systems in Homeostasis
❖ Blood sugar level
- After eating a meal, the glucose levels in the blood will increase.
So, our body will take certain actions in order to retain the sugar
level to normal. How?
- Increase in the blood glucose levels will stimulate the pancreas
(mainly beta cells) to secrete a hormone called insulin. Insulin
will increase the uptake of glucose by the cells, so the glucose
will move from the blood to the body cells, and the remaining
glucose will be stored in the liver in the form of glycogen.
- If we have the opposite (decrease in glucose levels), this will
stimulate the pancreas (alpha cells) to secrete another hormone
called glucagon. Glucagon action is the opposite to insulin, in order to increase the blood glucose levels
to go back to normal.

❖ Blood clotting
- For example, if a tear happened to a blood vessel (bleeding
occur), the platelets will come to the site of injury, also there
will be stimulation for the release of certain chemicals, these
chemicals will help the platelets to aggregate together in order
to form the platelet plug and control the bleeding.

❖ Body temperature
- The skin has receptors that can detect the changes in
temperature. If the external temperature rises or drops, what
will happen?
- The control center will send signals to the blood vessels and
sweat glands in our skin in order to react (to increase or
decrease the body temperature).
- If the external temperature is high, the blood vessels will
dilate, and the sweat glands will produce sweat in order to
normalize the body temperature (by decreasing it).
- But if the external temperature is low, the opposite will happen; the blood vessels will constrict to retain
the heat and get the body temperature normalized.
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 Homeostatic Control Systems
➢ Control systems are grouped into two classes:
1. Intrinsic controls: Local controls that are inherent in an organ.
2. Extrinsic controls: Regulatory mechanisms initiated outside an organ. Accomplished by nervous and
endocrine systems.
❖ Feedback
- Refers to responses made after change has been detected.
- Types of feedback systems:
A. Negative
B. Positive
Negative feedback system
➢ Primary type of homeostatic control (most common).
➢ It opposes the initial change.
➢ Components:
1- Sensor
- Monitors magnitude of a controlled variable.
2- Control center
- Compares sensor s input with a set point.
3- Effector
- Makes a response to produce a desired effect.
Positive Feedback
❖ Examples:
1. Childbirth
- Uterine contraction pushes head to stretch cervix muscle, this will
send nerve impulses to the brain (posterior pituitary gland) to secrete
the oxytocin hormone which will stimulate the uterine contraction,
this will push the baby more against the cervix → more signals to the
brain → more oxytocin and contractions.
- This action is repeated until the baby is born.
- So, contractions caused even more contractions (not the opposite);
this is positive feedback.

2. Generation of nerve signals

- Stimulation of nerve fiber causes slight leakage of sodium ions.
- More sodium in causes change in membrane potential that will cause more sodium channels to open and
more influx & more change in membrane potential → more opening, until action potential is created and
spread all the way to the end of nerve fiber.
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 Disruptions in Homeostasis
➢ Can lead to illness and death (in severe cases).
➢ The most common factors that can affect the homeostasis: Genetic factors, Diet and nutrition, or physical
condition.
➢ Pathophysiology: abnormal functioning of the body associated with disease.

‫تم بحمد هللا‬

Special thanks to
Ola Bani Amer

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