Homeostasis

• Homeostasis is the regulation of the internal conditions of a cell or organism to maintain optimum conditions for function in response to internal and external changes
• Enzymes and cells require stable conditions to work effectively
• Our bodies have systems in place to keep internal conditions optimal for cells to function, known as homeostasis
• Homeostasis is about keeping internal conditions as constant as possible
• In the human body, homeostasis is used to keep blood glucose concentration, body temperature, and water levels constant
• • The effector carries out the response to maintain the optimum level
• Features of an automatic control system:

  • Automatic control systems in the human body can involve the nervous system or hormones
  • Receptor cells detect changes in the environment, which could be internal (e.g., glucose concentration) or external (e.g., skin temperature)
  • A change in the environment is called a stimulus
  • Receptor cells pass information to a Coordination Center (e.g., brain, spinal cord, pancreas)
  • The Coordination Center receives and processes information from the receptor cells
  • The Coordination Center sends instructions to the effector (muscle or gland)
• In automatic control systems, there is a stimulus, a receptor, a Coordination Center, and an effector for response