PHYSIOLOGY

Instructor: Zhang Zhao ( 张朝 )

Department of Physiology
Room No. 10 Tel: 66658159
Email: zhangzhao@zzu.edu.cn
Course Description
♦ The course will offer basic physiological
knowledge necessary to understand the
essential facts and concepts of human
physiology, in order for you to be able to
make clinical judgments on a rational
scientific basis.
♦ Course duration- 18 weeks, total course
hours-126
– lecture-72
– experiment -54
BOOKS YOU MUST HAVE
♦ THE TEXTBOOK OF PHYSIOLOGY BY
GUYTON & HALL, TENTH EDITION
(2000)- REQUIRED!!!

♦ REVIEW OF PHYSIOLOGY BY
GANONG. TWENTYTH EDITION
(2000)- HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
Contents of lecture
– Introduction to Physiology (framework)

– Cellular Physiology (how the cell works, eg.

How muscles and nerves function)

– Systemic Physiology (how the organ works,

such as how the heart pump out the blood, how
air moves in and out from lung.)
Method of lecture

1. Lecture
• By slide show
1. Experimental practice
• Performing animal experiment in
groups
 WAY TO DO IT
OBSERVE TIME MAKE TIME STUDY HARD
About Exam
♦ Assessment by examination (80%)

♦ Assessment by experimental practice

(20%)
♦ If you were absent in lab for 4 times

you will be not qualified to take final

examination!!!
 WARNING!!!
♦ PHYSIOLOGY REQUIRES TOTAL
DEDICATION.
♦ READ BEFORE EACH LECTURE.
♦ ATTEND ALL LECTURES.
♦ BY ALL MEANS DON’T FALL BEHIND
IN YOUR STUDIES.
 END RESULT

LIKE THIS! NOT LIKE THIS!

 Chapter 1
Introduction to
Physiology
Objectives
1. Overview of the human body and
organization
2. Become acquainted with how
physiological knowledge is
obtained
3. Understanding of foundational
physiological models
Key Terminology

♦ Atom – Molecule – Cell – Organ –

Physiology – Metabolism – Excitability –
Adaptation – Homeostasis – Intracellular
– Extra cellular – Reflex – Integration –
Set Point – Input – Output – Feedback
Section 1.1 Physiology

Conception of physiology (what)

 Physiology and medicine

Conception of Physiology
♦ What is Physiology ?
♦ Simply put, physiology is the scientific
discipline that seeks to understand the
function of living organisms and their
constituent parts. The word itself is
composed of two Greek roots: physis
(meaning nature) and logos (meaning
study or science). Thus, physiology can
encompass everything from animal, to
human, to plant physiology; to organ
system physiology, all the way down to
molecular physiology.
Studying Physiology (Why?)
♦ Exploring the living mass by questioning
observations

– Teleological Question - "Why does the XYZ exist?"

– Mechanistic Question - "What does XYZ do?“
For example: Why dose a neuron has dendrites
and axon? What does dendrite or axon do
during a neuron excitation?
Solving Physiological Questions
♦ The laboratory Component

– Scientific Method (How)

a. Develop a hypothesis
b. Plan and implement an experimental
design
Define the variables of the hypothesis
c. Analysis of experimental results
d. Interpretation of results
 Three levels of study

Organisms （ in vivo)

Organs & systems

(in vitra)
Cells & molecules
Obviously
♦ Development of physiology relies
on the development of other
discipline, such as anatomy,
histology, biochemistry, physics,
chemistry, molecular
biochemistry and so on.
 Physiology and Medicine

 Def. of medicine:-The science of

diagnosing, treating, or preventing disease
and other damage to the body or mind.

 A definition of physiology requires a

definition of life, at the point of life, there
is a tight link between physiology and
medicine.
 Physiology is important
foundation of medical
practice.
♦ The purposes of study for medical
students are as follows:
To get basic sense of normal functions
and its regulation of living organisms

To know how to update medical

knowledge via research
Section 1.2 The essential
properties of the life
♦ Metabolism F
♦ Excitability &adaptability F
♦ Reproduction
 Metabolism
assimilation anabolism

Intake

Composition Consume energy

Decomposition Release energy

Excretory
Excitability is an ability or property
of living organism that permits them
to react to stimuli.
Three terms regarding excitability:
Stimulation
Threshold =1/excitability
Essence of response: either
excitation or inhibition
♦ Adaptability refer to an ability or
potential of change in physiological
response that makes an organism
better suited to survive in new or
different environmental conditions.

♦ Reproduction is a process by which an

individual produce one or more individual
similar to itself is called reproduction.
Section 1.3 Living things
& Environment
♦Internal & external environment
F
♦Homeostasis & auto-control
 Claude Bernard,
a father of experimental
physiology in France,
said: “constancy of the
internal environment is
the condition for free
life”.
Homeostasis
♦ The concept of homeostasis was
first articulated by the French
scientist Claude Bernard (1813-
1878) in his studies of the
maintenance of stability in the
milieu interior. The term itself was
coined by American physiologist
Walter Cannon, author of The
Wisdom of the Body (1932).
Homeostasis
♦ "Homeostasis" is derived from the Greek
words for "same" and "steady." The term
refers to ways the body acts to maintain a
stable internal environment in spite of
environmental variations and disturbances.
Both the mind/brain and the body are
endowed with a multitude of automatic
mechanisms of feedback-inhibition that
counteract influences tending toward
disequilibrium.
Control Mechanism
♦ Maintenance of homeostasis through
control mechanisms is the means by which
the body accomplishes this delicate
balancing act.
♦ If your body is too hot, it responds through
sweating to cool itself. If your body is too
cold, it attempts to retain heat by altering
blood circulation patterns, or through
shivering to boost heat production. We call
this a feedback loop, or a feedback system.
Feedback System
♦ Feedback, quite simply, is the process in action; once the
control center has decided to enact a change and the
effectors goes into action, the sensor must continuously
provide a check to ensure that the control center always
knows what is happening.
♦ Because a sensor can detect both positive and negative
changes enacted by an effector, there are two main types
of feedback systems: positive and negative systems.
Feedback Loops

♦ Controlled variable, set-point

♦ Sensor (receptor)
♦ Integrator
♦ Correction signal
♦ Effector
Positive Feedback
♦ Positive feedback systems are extremely rare in
the human body. They are rare because they do
not assist in the maintenance of homeostasis; in
fact, they work against it. A positive feedback
system occurs when the control center tells the
effector to continue what it is doing, accelerating
the initial effect. The sensor detects this and feeds
the information back to the control center once
again, thus continuing the loop in perpetuity.
 Negative Feedback
♦ The main reason that negative feedback
systems are so prevalent in the human body
is that they act to stabilize a system. In this
type of system, any action taken by an
effector opposes the sensory stimulus that
enacted the feedback system in the first
place.
Set Point:
a critical
level that
control
system
start or
stop
working
Overview of homeostasis
Section 1.4 Regulation of
body functions
♦Nervous regulation F

♦Humoral or nervous-humoral
regulation F
♦ Auto-regulation
The way of regulation via NS
♦ Reflex F

♦ Conditional reflex

♦ Voluntary movement
Knee Jerk Reflex (Patellar Reflex)
The role of nervous regulation

♦ Detection or sensation

♦Control or movement

♦ Integration
 Humoral regulation

♦ Hormones
♦ Some substances produced via
cell metabolism
♦ Neurosecretion
 Framework of physiology
♦ 川流不息的细胞外液
Blood, Circulation
♦ 体内外物质、能量交换
Respiration, Digestion, Metabolism
♦ 生命活动的控制与调节
Nerve-Muscle, Sensory organs, Endocrine,
Center Nervous System
 ADDITIONAL READING
1. Guyton AC. Textbook of Medical Physiology.
10th ed, WB Saunders Co, Philadelphia, 2000

2. Ganong WF. Review of medical physiology.

20th ed, McGraw-Hill publishing Co, New
York, 1999