Lesson 1: Introduction to Anatomy and Physiology

Anatomy - is the study of the structure and shape of the body and its parts and their relationships to one another.
o Gross Anatomy - studying large, easily observable structures.
o Microscopic Anatomy - is the study of body structures that are too small to be seen with the
naked eye.

Physiology - is the study of how the body and its parts work or function (physio = nature; ology = the study of).
o Neurophysiology - explains the workings of the nervous system.
o Cardiac Physiology - studies the function of the heart.
o Histology - study of tissues
o Cytology - study of cells

Six Levels of Structural Organization

Chemical Level - at this level, atoms, tiny building blocks of matter, combine to form molecules such as water,
sugar, and proteins, like those that make up our muscles.
Cellular Level - the simplest living creatures are composed of single cells, but in complex organisms such as
trees or human beings, the structural ladder continues on to the tissue level.
Tissue Level - consists of groups of similar cells that have a common function.
Organ Level - is a structure composed of two or more tissue types that performs a specific function for the
body.
Organ system - is a group of organs that work together to accomplish a common purpose.
Organism - the organismal level is the sum total of all structural levels working together to keep us alive.
- The highest level of structural organization.

Organ System Overview

Integumentary System - is the external covering of the body, or the skin, including the hair and fingernails.
- It waterproofs the body and cushions and protects the deeper tissues from injury.
Skeletal System - consists of bones, cartilages, and joints
- supports the body and provides a framework that the skeletal muscles use to cause movement.
- has protective functions and the cavities of the skeleton are the sites where blood cells are formed.
Muscular System - have only one function— to contract, or shorten.
- When these contract, you are able to stand erect, walk, jump, grasp, throw a ball, or smile.
- The skeletal muscles form the muscular system.
Endocrine System - controls body activities, but it acts much more slowly.
- produce chemical molecules called hormones and release them into the blood to travel to relatively
distant target organs.
- secrete hormones, which regulate other structures.
Cardiovascular System - delivers oxygen, nutrients, hormones, and other substances to, and picks up wastes
such as carbon dioxide from, cells near sites of exchange.
- The primary organs are heart and blood vessels.
Nervous System - is the body’s fast-acting control system.
- It consists of the brain, spinal cord, nerves, and sensory receptors.
- The sensory receptors detect changes in temperature, pressure, or light, and send messages (via electrical
signals called nerve impulses) to the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord) so that it is
 constantly informed about what is going on. The central nervous system then assesses this information
and responds by activating the appro priate body effectors (muscles or glands, which are organs that
produce secretions).
Lymphatic System - the role of the lymphatic system complements that of the cardiovascular system.
- Its organs include lymphatic vessels, lymph nodes, and other lymphoid organs such as the spleen and
tonsils.
- The lymph nodes and other lymphoid organs help to cleanse the blood and house white blood cells
involved in immunity.
- The job of the respiratory system is to keep the body supplied with oxygen and to remove car bon
dioxide.
- consists of the nasal passages, pharynx, larynx, trachea, bronchi, and lungs.
Digestive System - their role is to break down food and deliver the resulting nutrients to the blood for dispersal
to body cells.
- The organs of the digestive system include the oral cavity (mouth), esophagus, stomach, small and large
intestines, and rectum plus a number of accessory organs.
Urinary System - the urinary system removes the nitrogen-containing wastes from the blood and flushes them
from the body in urine. This system, often called the excretory system, is composed of the kidneys, ureters,
bladder, and urethra.
- maintaining the body’s water and salt (electrolyte) balance, regulating the acid-base bal ance of the
blood, and helping to regulate normal blood pressure.
Reproductive System - the role of the reproductive system is to produce offspring.

Characteristics of Life
Movement - includes all the activities promoted by the muscular system, such as propelling ourselves from one
place to another and manipulating the external environment with our fingers.
- movement also occurs when substances such as blood, foodstuffs, and urine are propelled through the
internal organs of the cardiovascular, digestive, and urinary systems, respectively.
Responsiveness (Irritability) - is the ability to sense changes (stimuli) in the environment and then to react to
them.
- For example, if you accidentally touch a hot pan, you involuntarily pull your hand away from the painful
stimulus (the pan).
Digestion - is the process of breaking down ingested food into simple molecules that can then be absorbed into
the blood.
Metabolism - is a broad term that refers to all chemical reactions that occur within the body and all of its cells.
- Includes: breaking down com plex substances into simpler building blocks, making larger structures
from smaller ones, and using nutrients and oxygen to produce molecules of adenosine triphosphate
(ATP) the energy-rich molecules that power cellular activities.
- depends on the digestive and respiratory systems to make nutrients and oxygen available to the blood
and on the cardiovascular system to distribute these needed substances throughout the body.
- regulated chiefly by hormones secreted by the glands of the endocrine system.
Excretion - is the process of removing excreta (ek-skre′tah), or wastes, from the body.
Reproduction - the production of offspring.
- can occur on the cellular or organismal level.
- the function of the reproductive system is regulated very precisely by hormones of the endocrine system.
Growth - can be an increase in cell size or an increase in body size that is usually accomplished by an increase
in the number of cells.
- for growth to occur, cell-constructing activities must occur at a faster rate than cell-destroying ones.
- hormones released by the endocrine system play a major role in directing growth.

Survival Needs
Nutrients - which the body takes in through food, contain the chemicals used for energy and cell building.
- Carbohydrates are the major energy providing fuel for body cells.
- Proteins and, to a lesser extent, fats are essential for building cell structures.
- Fats also cushion body organs and provide reserve fuel.
- Minerals and vitamins are required for the chemical reactions that go on in cells and for oxygen
transport in the blood.
Oxygen - chemical reactions that release energy from foods require oxygen.
- it is made available to the blood and body cells by the cooperative efforts of the respiratory and
cardiovascular systems.
Normal Body Temperature – if body temperature drops below 37°C (98.6°F), metabolic reactions become
slower and slower and finally stop.
- if body temperature is too high, chemical reactions proceed too rapidly, and body proteins begin to break
down.
- most body heat is generated by the activity of the skeletal muscles and dissipated via blood circulating
close to the skin surface or by the evaporation of sweat.
Atmospheric Pressure – it is the force exerted on the surface of the body by the weight of air.
- breathing and the exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the lungs depend on.

Medical Imaging Illuminating the Body

Imaging procedures are important diagnostic tools that are either minimally invasive or not invasive at
all. By bombarding the body with different forms of energy, medical imaging techniques can reveal the structure
of internal organs, show blood flow in real time, and even determine the density of bone.

X-ray - is a shadowy negative image of internal structures produced by directing electromagnetic waves of very
short wavelength at the body.
- best used to visualize hard, bony structures and locate abnor mally dense structures (tumors, tuberculosis
nodules) in the lungs and breasts.
• Mammogram - is used to identify changes in breast tissue, including dense masses or calcifications,
performed by compressing the breast in a special X-ray machine because thinner tissue results in a better
image.
• Bone Densitometry - detects the amount of calcium and minerals stored in bone and is the major
diagnostic test for osteoporosis
Ultrasonography (Ultrasound Imaging) – the equipment employs high-frequency sound waves (ultrasound)
as its energy source. Unlike X rays, ultrasound has no known harmful effects on living tissues.
- The body is probed with pulses of sound waves, which cause echoes when reflected and scattered by
body tis sues.
- The echoes are analyzed by computer to construct visual images of body organs.
Positron emission tomography (PET) - requires an injection of short lived radioisotopes that have been tagged
to biological molecules (such as glucose) in order to view metabolic processes.
Computed Tomography (CT) - a refined version of X ray that eliminates the confusion resulting from images
of overlapping structures.
- takes “pictures” of a thin slice of the body, about as thick as a dime.
Dynamic Spatial Reconstruction (DSR) - provides three- dimensional images of body organs from any angle.
- allows organ movements and changes in internal volumes to be observed at normal speed, in slow
motion, and at a specific moment in time.
Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) - the patient lies in a tubelike chamber within a huge magnet. Hydrogen
molecules spin like tops in the magnetic field, and their energy is enhanced by the presence of radio waves.
When the radio waves are turned off, energy is released and translated by a computer into a visual image.
- Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (FMRI) - allows tracking of blood flow into the brain in
real time.

Language of Anatomy
Anatomical Position – also known as the standard position.
- the body is erect with the feet parallel and the arms hanging at the sides with the palms facing forward.
Directional Terms
Allows medical personnel and anatomists to explain exactly where one body structure is in relation to
another.

Homeostasis - the body’s ability to maintain relatively stable internal conditions even though the outside world
is continuously changing.
- The Receptor is a type of sensor that monitors and responds to changes in the environment. It responds
to such changes, called stimuli, by sending information (input) to the second component, the control
center. Information flows from the receptor to the control center along the afferent pathway.
- The Control Center determines the level (set point) at which a variable is to be maintained. This
component analyzes the information it receives and then determines the appropriate response or course
of action.
- The Effector provides the means for the control center’s response (output) to the stimulus. Information
flows from the control center to the effector along the efferent pathway. (Efferent information exits from
the control center.) The results of the response then feedback to influence the stimulus (the original
change), either by reducing the amount of change (negative feedback), so that the whole control
mechanism is shut off; or by increasing the amount of change (positive feedback), so that the reaction
continues at an even faster rate.

Feedback Mechanism
Negative Feedback - the net effect of the response to the stimulus is to either shut off the original stimulus or
reduce its intensity.
- other negative feedback mechanisms regulate heart rate, blood pressure, breathing rate, the release of
hormones, and blood levels of glucose (blood sugar), oxygen, carbon dioxide, and minerals.
Positive Feedback - they tend to increase the original disturbance (stimulus) and to push the variable farther
from its original value.
- these mechanisms control infrequent events that occur explosively and do not require continuous
adjustments.