Human homeostasis

Human homeostasis
Human homeostasis refers to the body's ability to physiologically regulate its inner environment to ensure its
stability in response to fluctuations in the outside environment and the weather. The liver, the kidneys, and the brain
(hypothalamus, the autonomic nervous system and the endocrine system[1] ) help maintain homeostasis. The liver is
responsible for metabolizing toxic substances and maintaining carbohydrate metabolism. The kidneys are
responsible for regulating blood water levels, re-absorption of substances into the blood, maintenance of salt and ion
levels in the blood, regulation of blood pH, and excretion of urea and other candies.
An inability to maintain homeostasis may lead to death or a disease, a condition known as homeostatic imbalance.
For instance, heart failure may occur when negative feedback mechanisms become overwhelmed and destructive
positive feedback mechanisms take over.[2] Other diseases which result from a homeostatic imbalance include
diabetes, dehydration, hypoglycemia, hyperglycemia, gout and any disease caused by the presence of a toxin in the
bloodstream. Medical intervention can help restore homeostasis and possibly prevent permanent damage to the
organs.

Temperature
Humans are warm-blooded, maintaining a near-constant body temperature. Thermoregulation is an important aspect
of human homeostasis. Heat is mainly produced by the liver and muscle contractions. Humans have been able to
adapt to a great diversity of climates, including hot humid and hot arid. High temperatures pose serious stresses for
the human body, placing it in great danger of injury or even death. In order to deal with these climatic conditions,
humans have developed physiologic and cultural modes of adaptation. Temperature may enter a circle of positive
feedback, when temperature reaches extremes of 45C (113F), at which cellular proteins denature, causing the
active site in proteins to change, thus causing metabolism stop and ultimately death.

Iron
Iron is an essential element for human beings. The control of this necessary but potentially toxic substance is an
important part of many aspects of human health and disease. Hematologists have been especially interested in the
system of iron metabolism because iron is essential to red blood cells. In fact, most of the human body's iron is
contained in red blood cells' hemoglobin, and iron deficiency is the most common cause of anemia.
When body levels of iron are too low, then hepcidin in the duodenal epithelium is decreased. This causes an increase
in ferroportin activity, stimulating iron uptake in the digestive system. An iron surplus will stimulate the reverse of
this process.
In individual cells, an iron deficiency causes responsive element binding protein (IRE-BP) to bind to iron responsive
elements (IRE) on mRNAs for transferrin receptors, resulting in increased production of transferrin receptors. These
receptors increase binding of transferrin to cells, and therefore stimulating iron uptake.

Human homeostasis

Energy
Energy balance is the homeostasis of energy in living systems. It is measured with the following equation:
Energy intake = internal heat produced + external work + storage.
It generally uses the energy unit Calorie (or kilogram calorie), which equals the energy needed to increase the
temperature of 1kg of water by 1 C. This is about 4.184 kJ.

Blood composition
The balance of many blood solutes belongs to the scope of renal physiology.

Sugar
Blood glucose is regluated with two hormones, insulin and glucagon, both released from the pancreas.
When blood sugar levels become too high, insulin is released from the pancreas. Glucose, or sugar, is stored in body
cells as glycogen, lowering the blood sugar levels. On the other hand, when blood sugar levels become too low,
glucagon is released. It promotes the release of glycogen, converted back into glucose. This increases blood sugar
levels.
If the pancreas is for any reason unable to produce enough of these two hormones, diabetes results.

Osmoregulation
Osmoregulation is the active regulation of the osmotic pressure of bodily fluids to maintain the homeostasis of the
body's water content; that is it keeps the body's fluids from becoming too dilute or too concentrated. Osmotic
pressure is a measure of the tendency of water to move into one solution from another by osmosis. The higher the
osmotic pressure of a solution the more water wants to go into the solution.
The kidneys are used to remove excess ions from the blood, thus affecting the osmotic pressure. These are then
expelled as urine.

Pressure
The renin-angiotensin system (RAS) is a hormone system that helps regulate
long-term blood pressure and extracellular volume in the body.

[3]

The renin-angiotensin system.

Human homeostasis

Calcium
When blood calcium becomes too low, calcium-sensing
receptors in the parathyroid gland become activated.
This results in the release of PTH, which acts to
increase blood calcium, e.g. by release from bones
(increasing the activity of bone-degrading cells called
osteoclasts). This hormone also causes calcium to be
reabsorbed from urine and the GI tract.
Calcitonin, released from the C cells in the thyroid
gland, works the opposite way, decreasing calcium
levels in the blood by causing more calcium to be fixed
in bone.

Acid-base
The kidneys maintain acid-base homeostasis by
regulating the pH of the blood plasma. Gains and losses
of acid and base must be balanced. The study of the
acid-base reactions in the body is acid base physiology.
[4]

Calcium regulation in the human body.

Volume
The body's homeostatic control mechanisms, which maintain a constant internal environment, ensure that a balance
between fluid gain and fluid loss is maintained. The hormones ADH (Anti-diuretic Hormone, also known as
vasopressin) and Aldosterone play a major role in this.
If the body is becoming fluid-deficient, there will be an increase in the secretion of these hormones (ADH),
causing fluid to be retained by the kidneys and urine output to be reduced.
Conversely, if fluid levels are excessive, secretion of these hormones (aldosterone) is suppressed, resulting in less
retention of fluid by the kidneys and a subsequent increase in the volume of urine produced.
If you have too much Carbon dioxide(CO2) in the blood, it can cause the blood to become acidic. People respirate
heavily not due to low oxygen(O2) content in the blood, but because they have too much CO2.

Hemostasis
Hemostasis is the process whereby bleeding is halted. A major part of this is coagulation.
Platelet accumulation causes blood clotting in response to a break or tear in the lining of blood vessels. Unlike the
majority of control mechanisms in human body, the hemostasis utilizes positive feedback, for the more the clot
grows, the more clotting occurs, until the blood stops. Another example of positive feedback is the release of
oxytocin to intensify the contractions that take place during childbirth.[2]

Human homeostasis

Sleep
Sleep timing depends upon a balance between homeostatic sleep propensity, the need for sleep as a function of the
amount of time elapsed since the last adequate sleep episode, and circadian rhythms which determine the ideal
timing of a correctly structured and restorative sleep episode.[5]

Extracellular fluid
The kidneys, by regulating the blood composition, also controls the extracellular fluid homeostasis.

References
[1] (http:/ / assets. cambridge. org/ 97805218/ 45182/ excerpt/ 9780521845182_excerpt. pdf) Reference for autonomic and endocrine system.
[2] Marieb, Elaine N. & Hoehn, Katja (2007). Human Anatomy & Physiology (Seventh ed.). San Francisco, CA: Pearson Benjamin Cummings.
[3] Page 866-867 (Integration of Salt and Water Balance) and 1059 (The Adrenal Gland) in: Walter F., PhD. Boron (2003). Medical Physiology:
A Cellular And Molecular Approaoch. Elsevier/Saunders. pp.1300. ISBN1-4160-2328-3.
[4] Page 1094 (The Parathyroid Glands and Vitamin D) in: Walter F., PhD. Boron (2003). Medical Physiology: A Cellular And Molecular
Approaoch. Elsevier/Saunders. pp.1300. ISBN1-4160-2328-3.
[5] Wyatt, James K.; Ritz-De Cecco, Angela; Czeisler, Charles A.; Dijk, Derk-Jan (1 October 1999). "Circadian temperature and melatonin
rhythms, sleep, and neurobehavioral function in humans living on a 20-h day" (http:/ / ajpregu. physiology. org/ cgi/ content/ full/ 277/ 4/
R1152). Am J Physiol 277 (4): R1152R1163. Fulltext. PMID10516257. . Retrieved 2007-11-25. "... significant homeostatic and circadian
modulation of sleep structure, with the highest sleep efficiency occurring in sleep episodes bracketing the melatonin maximum and core body
temperature minimum".

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