Homeostasis

HOMEOSTASIS AND
CONTROL MECHANISMS
E. ANOKYE KUMI
Homeostasis
• The term homeostasis was coined in 1932 by Walter Cannon from
the Greek words homeo (same, like, resembling, similar) and stasis
(to stand, posture, stillness, changeless).
• It is defined as a self-regulating process by which biological systems
maintain stability while adjusting to changing external conditions.
• Homeostasis is the maintenance of a constant/relatively stable
internal environment in the face of changing external environment
• ECF is considered to be the internal environment
• It is the central theme of Physiology
• The concept that bodily regulation is required for health can be
traced back to the ancient Greeks.
• The Greek physician/philosopher Alcmaeon of Croton (fl. 500
BC) proposed what can be called a “balance of opposites” to
explain health and disease.
• He used a political analogy to define health and disease stating
that:
• “Health is the equality of rights of the functions, wet-dry, cold-hot,
bitter-sweet and the rest; but single rule of either pair is
deleterious.” (Freeman, 1948).
• Thus, inequality of power leads to tyranny in a political system
and disease in the body.
• This concept was expanded by Hippocrates of Kos (ca. 460–ca. 377
BC) who proposed that health was the product of the balance and
mixture of four body fluids or humors: blood, phlegm, yellow bile,
and black bile. He wrote that:
• “Health is primarily that state in which these constituent substances
are in correct proportion to each other, both in strength and quantity
and are well mixed. Pain occurs when one of these substances
presents either a deficiency or excess, or is separated in the body
and not mixed with the others.” (Chadwick and Mann, 1950)
• Thus, medicine became a process “of subtraction and addition:
subtraction of what is in excess, addition of what is wanting.” (Jones,
1923)
• The essential variables of the internal environment that are
maintained within limits acceptable are:
➢ Concentration of oxygen and carbon dioxide
➢ pH of the internal environment
➢ Concentration of nutrients and waste products
➢ Concentration of salt and other electrolytes
➢ Volume and pressure of extracellular fluid
➢ temperature
• Homeostasis is continually disturbed by stress
• The disruption of homeostatic mechanisms is what leads to
disease, and effective therapy must be directed toward re-
establishing these homeostatic conditions, working with rather than
against nature.
• Understanding the concept of homeostasis form the basis for
clinical diagnostic procedures.
• If one does not understand this self-regulating process, then it is
not possible to comprehend fully the function of the body in health
and in disease.
• Homeostasis depends on the action and interaction of a number of
body systems to maintain a range of conditions within which the
body can best operate.
These organ systems are the:
➢circulatory system ➢integumentary system

➢ lymphatic system and ➢reproductive system
immunity ➢ muscular
➢ digestive system ➢ skeletal system
➢ nervous system ➢ respiratory system
➢ endocrine system ➢ excretory system
• the nervous system and to some degree the endocrine

system are the main control systems of homeostasis
• homeostasis allows humans to live in many habitats
•Successful
compensation
•Homeostasis
reestablished
•Failure to compensate
•Pathophysiology
•Illness
•Death
8
Regulation of the Body Functions
• Regulation- the ability of an organism to maintain a stable
internal conditions in a constantly changing environment
• Three types:
• 1. Chemical (hormonal) Regulation
• 2. Nervous Regulation
• 3. Autoregulation
9
Chemical (hormonal) Regulation
• a regulatory process performed by
hormone or active chemical
substance in blood or tissue.
• response slowly
• acts extensively
• lasts for a long time.
10
Nervous Regulation
• a process in which body functions are
controlled by nerve system
• Pathway: nerve reflex
• Types: unconditioned reflex and
conditioned reflex
• Example: baroreceptor reflex of
arterial blood pressure
• Characteristics:
• response fast
• acts exactly or locally
• last for a short time
11
Autoregulation
• a tissue or an organ can directly respond to environmental

changes
• independent of nervous and hormonal control
• Characteristics：
• Amplitude of the regulation is smaller than other two
types.
• Extension of the effects is smaller than other two types.
• The three regulations have coordinated and acts as one

system, “feedback control system”.
12
Homeostatic Control Systems
Homeostatic control systems are body components that
generate compensatory regulatory responses to maintain
relatively stable conditions of the internal environment
• they are subject to nervous and endocrine
control
• homeostatic control systems have three
components. These are:
o detectors/sensors/receptor
o integrating/control center
o effectors
• Receptor
• As the name suggests, the receptor is the sensing component
responsible for monitoring and responding to changes in the external
or internal environment.
• Control Center
• The control centre is also known as the integration centre. It receives
and processes information from the receptor. Examples are the
respiratory center and the renin-angiotensin system.
• Effector
• The effector responds to the commands of the control centre. It could
either oppose or enhance the stimulus. They are the target of the
homeostatic response that would bring about the reversion of
conditions to the optimal or normal range.
The Receptor
• The receptor, as the name implies, is the part of a homeostatic system
that receives information regarding the status of the body. It monitors
and perceives the changes in its environment, both the internal and the
external.
• Examples of receptors in the human body are as follows:
• Photoreceptors, i.e. receptors that react to light stimuli
• Olfactory receptor cells, i.e. receptors in the olfactory epithelium at
the roof of the nose that react to odors or smell
• Gustation receptors, i.e. receptors for taste
• Auditory receptor cells, i.e. receptors in the epithelium of the organ of
Corti that react to sound stimuli
• Thermoreceptors, i.e. receptors in a sensory cell sensitive to
changes in temperature
• Mechanoreceptors, i.e. receptors in the skin that reacts to various
mechanical stimuli
• Interoceptors, i.e. receptors that respond to stimuli inside the body
• Nociceptors, i.e. receptors responsible for detecting or responding
to pain
• Peripheral chemoreceptors, i.e. receptors that respond to chemical
changes in the blood, e.g. oxygen concentration
• Two basic strategies are used by the body to maintain homeostasis.
These are:
▪ Feedback
▪ Feedforward
Feedback Control
• A feedback mechanism is a physiological regulation system in a
living body that works to return the body to its normal internal
state, or commonly known as homeostasis.
• Feedback mechanism is a loop system in which the system
responds to perturbation either in the same direction (positive
feedback) or in the opposite direction (negative feedback)
• Feedback control can be either negative or positive
▪ Negative Feedback
This occurs when a change in a controlled variable triggers a response
that opposes the change
• Homeostasis primarily operates on this principle
• They are inhibitory
• Negative feedback helps to maintain equilibrium
• Disruption of negative feedback can lead to undesirable results
• Stimulus triggers response to counteract further change in the same
direction.
• Negative-feedback mechanisms prevent small changes from
becoming too large.
Steps in Negative Feedback
1.Stimulation. The development of stimuli as a result of physiological
parameter deviations from the normal value is the initial stage in the
negative feedback loop. Physiological parameters can deviate from
the norm in either direction.
2.Reception. The control unit receives changes in physiological
parameters through a variety of receptors located throughout the
body. Nerves and other thermoreceptors are examples of common
receptors engaged in stimulus transmission.
3. Processing. The brain serves as the loop’s control unit, determining
whether a change in a physiological parameter necessitates loop
activation or inhibition. The brain sends out signals to erase the
alterations in different ways depending on the direction of departure.
4. Counteract on the stimulus. The control unit sends out signals at
the end of the loop to cancel out the impacts that cause changes in
physiological variables. Changes can take several forms and be
directed at different sections of the body.
23
Positive Feedback
This occurs when a change in a controlled variable triggers a response
that amplifies the change.
• A positive feedback mechanism involves more stimulation or the
acceleration of the process. moves the controlled variable further away
from the set point
• Brings about disequilibrium
• Not involved in homeostasis
•The feedback signal or output from the controlled system increases the
action of the control system
➢ Enhances the action of original stimulus or amplify or reinforce
change
•promote an activity to finish
➢ Examples:
➢ Blood clotting
➢ Micturition
➢ Defecation
➢ Na+ inflow in genesis of nerve signals
➢ Contraction of the uterus during childbirth (parturition)
27
Mechanism of Positive Feedback Mechanism
1.Stimulation. The stimulation that initiates the positive
feedback loop in order to complete a process is the initial
step. Hormones released by various organs as a result of the
start of a process are the most common stimuli in the human
body.
2.Reception. The second step in the loop is the reception of
stimuli via various sensors, which provide data to the control
unit. These receptors are mostly nerves that transmit signals
from the stimulus location to the control unit, which is the
brain in humans.
3. Processing. The processing of information supplied to the control
unit by the receptors is the next phase in the loop. The control unit
tallies the data and displays an output if the stimulus is outside the
typical range of the value.
4. Stimuli are activated even more. In order to induce an output in
response to the stimulus, information from the brain is conveyed to
the location of action via several nerves. The brain’s messages tend to
activate the stimulus even more in the direction of deviation in the
case of a positive feedback loop.
Positive Feedback: Stimulatory.
Stimulus trigger mechanisms that amplify the
response and reinforces the stimulus.
30
Difference between positive and negative feedback based on specific criteria
Positive Feedback Negative Feedback

Mechanism Mechanism
Result Expansion or amplification of A process is inhibited or
the output slowed down.
Occurrence Less frequent mechanism More frequent mechanism
Effects on Stimulus Increases productivity by Decreases productivity by

bolstering the stimulus. reducing the stimulus.
Stability Less stable More stable
Practical Examples Blood clotting, Fruit ripening, Temperature Regulation,

Childbirth in mammals, Blood glucose level
Menstrual cycle regulation
Feedforward Control
• This is a response in anticipation of a change in a controlled
variable. The disturbance is suppressed before it has the
chance to affect the system's essential variables
• It is not error based
• prepares the body for a change
• improves the speed of the body’s homeostatic responses
• minimizes fluctuations in the level of variable being
regulated
• such regulation use external detectors or learning
• Concept: Direct effect of stimulus on the control system
before the action of feedback signal occurs.
•Examples
✓ salivation reflex
✓ insulin secretion triggered by food in the gut
✓ penile erection in human males (visual or tactile stimuli)
✓ shivering before dipping in cold water
✓ increase in heart and respiratory rate before an event
Significance of Feedback-forward
• adaptive feedback control.
• makes the human body to foresee and adapt the

environment promptly and exactly
• (prepare the body for the change).

Homeostasis

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HOMEOSTASIS AND

➢circulatory system ➢integumentary system

• the nervous system and to some degree the endocrine

• a tissue or an organ can directly respond to environmental

• The three regulations have coordinated and acts as one

Positive Feedback Negative Feedback

Effects on Stimulus Increases productivity by Decreases productivity by

Practical Examples Blood clotting, Fruit ripening, Temperature Regulation,

• makes the human body to foresee and adapt the

• (prepare the body for the change).

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