Hossana Health Science College

Ashagre E. (MD)
Lecturer at Wachemo University
 Introduction to Physiology
• Course outlines

 Introduction to physiology(week 1)
Physiology of
 Integumentary system(week 2 and 3)
 Musculoskeletal system(week 5)
 Gastro intestinal system(week 6 and 7)
 Respiratory system(week 8)
 Cardiovascular system( week 10)
 Genitourinary system(week 12)
 Endocrine system(week 14)
 Nervous system(15)
 Assesment
• Attendance
• Quizes
• Assigments
• Mid test
• Final exam
 Integumentary System
• The skin and its various appendages including
• hair
• nails, glands, and other structures
• cover, cushion, and protect the deeper tissues and
organs of the body.
• The integumentary system is also important for
• temperature regulation and excretion of wastes, and
• it provides a sensory interface between the body
and the external environment.
 Body Temperature Regulation and Fever

• The temperature of the deep tissues of the body—

the “core” of the body—usually remains very
constant, within ±1°F (±0.6°C).
• The skin temperature, in contrast to the core
temperature, rises and falls with the temperature of
the surroundings.
• The average normal core temperature is generally
considered to be between 98.0°F and 98.6°F when
measured orally and about 1°F higher when
measured rectally.
 Body Temperature cont’d
• Body temperature is controlled by balancing
heat production and heat loss.
• When the rate of heat production in the body is
greater than the rate at which heat is being lost,
heat builds up in the body, and the body
temperature rises. Conversely, when heat loss
is greater, both body heat and body
temperature decrease.
 HEAT PRODUCTION
• Heat production is a principal by-product of
metabolism.
• There are different factors affecting heat production
 basal rate of metabolism of all the cells of the body;
 rate of metabolism caused by muscle activity,
 metabolism caused by the effect of hormones
 metabolism caused by the effect of sympathetic
stimulation on the cells;
 extra metabolism needed for digestion, absorption,
and storage of food.
 HEAT LOSS
• Most of the heat produced in the body is generated in
the deep organs.
• This heat is then transferred from the deeper organs
and tissues to the skin.
• the rate at which heat is lost is determined almost
entirely by two factors:
(1) how rapidly heat can be conducted from where it
is produced in the body core to the skin and
(2) how rapidly heat can then be transferred from
the skin to the surroundings.
 Insulator System of the Body
• The skin,
• the subcutaneous tissues,
• and especially the fat of the subcutaneous
tissues act together as a heat insulator.
• The insulation beneath the skin is an effective
means of maintaining normal internal core
temperature.
 Cont’d
• Blood Flow to the Skin From the Body Core
Provides Heat Transfer.
• Blood vessels are distributed profusely beneath the
skin.
• The rate of blood flow into the skin venous plexus
can vary tremendously, from barely above zero to as
great as 30% of the total cardiac output.
• A high rate of skin flow causes heat to be conducted
from the body core to the skin with great efficiency,
Skin circulation
• Control of Heat Conduction to the Skin by the
Sympathetic Nervous System.
• Heat conduction to the skin by the blood is
controlled by the degree of vasoconstriction.
• This vasoconstriction is controlled almost
entirely by the sympathetic nervous system.
Physics of heat loss
 Mechanism of heat loss
• Heat loss happened mainly through the
following mechanism
 Conduction
 Evaporation
 Radiation
 Convection
 Conduction
• Conductive Heat Loss Occurs by Direct Contact
With an Object.
• only minute quantities of heat, about 3%, are
normally lost from the body by direct
conduction.
• Loss of heat by conduction to air, represents a
(≈15%), even under normal conditions.
 Convection
• Convective Heat Loss Results From Air Movement.
Heat from the skin is first conducted to the air and
then carried away by the convection air currents.
• A small amount of convection almost always
occurs around the body.
• Therefore, in a nude person seated in a
comfortable room without gross air movement,
about 15% of his or her total heat loss occurs by
conduction to the air.
Mechanism of heat loss from the body
 Evaporation
• When water evaporates from the body surface, 0.58 Calorie
(kilocalorie) of heat is lost for each gram of water that
evaporates.
• Even when a person is not sweating, water still evaporates
insensibly from the skin and lungs at a rate of about 600 to 700
ml/day.
• This insensible evaporation causes continual heat loss at a rate
of 16 to 19 Calories per hour.
• Insensible evaporation through the skin and lungs cannot be
controlled for purposes of temperature regulation because it
results from continual diffusion of water molecules through
the skin and respiratory surfaces.
 Role of Hypothalmus
• The temperature of the body is regulated
almost entirely by nervous feedback
mechanisms, and
• Almost all these mechanisms operate through
temperature regulating centers located in the
hypothalamus.
• There must also be temperature detectors to
determine when body temperature becomes
either too high or too low.
 Cont’d
• The anterior hypothalamic-preoptic area contains
large numbers of heat-sensitive neurons, as well as
about one third as many cold-sensitive neurons.
• Although the signals generated by the temperature
receptors of the hypothalamus are extremely
powerful in controlling body temperature,
• Receptors in other parts of the body play additional
roles in temperature regulation.
• This is especially true of temperature receptors in the
skin and in a few specific deep tissues of the body.
 Posterior Hypothalmus
• Many temperature sensory signals arise in peripheral
receptors, these signals contribute to body temperature
control mainly through the hypothalamus.
• The area of the hypothalamus that they stimulate is located
bilaterally in the posterior hypothalamus.
• The temperature sensory signals from the anterior
hypothalamic-preoptic area are also transmitted into this
posterior hypothalamic area.
• Here the signals from the preoptic area and the signals from
elsewhere in the body are combined and integrated to control
the heat-producing and heat-conserving reactions of the body
Temperature-Decreasing Mechanisms When
the Body Is Too Hot
• Vasodilatation of skin blood vessels.
Full vasodilatation can increase the rate of heat
transfer to the skin as much as eightfold.
• Sweating Heat loss resulting from sweating when the
body core temperature rises above the critical level of
37.1°C (98.8°F).
• An additional 1°C increase in body temperature
causes enough sweating to remove 10 times the basal
rate of
• Decrease in heat production
 Temperature-Increasing Mechanisms When
the Body Is Too Cold
• Skin vasoconstriction throughout the body.
This vasoconstriction is caused by stimulation
of the posterior hypothalamic sympathetic.
• Piloerection.
• Increase in thermogenesis (heat production).
Heat production by the metabolic systems is
increased by promoting shivering, sympathetic
excitation of heat production, and thyroxine
secretion
Hypothalamic Stimulation of Shivering.
• Located in the dorsomedial portion of the posterior
hypothalamus near the wall of the third ventricle is
an area called the primary motor center for
shivering.
• This area is normally inhibited by signals from the
heat center in the anterior hypothalamic-preoptic
area but is excited by cold signals from the skin and
spinal cord
• During maximum shivering, body heat production
can rise to four to five times normal
Sympathetic “Chemical” Excitation of Heat
Production
• an increase in either sympathetic stimulation
or circulating norepinephrine and epinephrine
in the blood can rapidly increase the rate of
cellular metabolism.
• This effect is called chemical thermogenesis
• Increased Thyroxine Output as a Long-Term
Cause of Increased Heat Production
 ABNORMALITIES OF BODY TEMPERATURE
REGULATION
• Fever
• Heat stroke
• Frost bite