Homeostasis

• Homeostasis


  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 very stable conditions in order to work
• The body has systems in place to keep the internal conditions optimum for the cells to function
• Internal conditions maintained by homeostasis

  • Blood glucose concentration
  • Body temperature
  • Water levels
• Automatic control systems


  • Involve the nervous system or hormones
  • Detect changes in the environment (internal or external) through receptor cells
  • Pass information to a Coordination Center (brain, spinal cord, pancreas)
  • Coordination Center sends instructions to an effector (muscle or gland) to carry out a response
• Stimulus


  A change to the environment detected by receptor cells