ANATOMY AND HUMAN

PHYSIOLOGY

BM2206

Dr.V.VASANTHY
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR
DEPT OF BIOMEDICAL ENGG.
Within cells there is an intricate network of
organelles that all have unique functions.
These organelles allow the cell to function
properly. Arranged below according to
location (nucleus, cytoplasm, and surface)
is a description of common organelles. You
may click on the organelle's name in the
list below to directly reach the feature on
that structure.
 Cell wall
Centrioles
Chloroplasts
Chromosomes
Cytoskeleton
Endoplasmic reticulum
Nuclear membraneNucleolus
Golgi apparatus
Lysosome
Mitochondria
Plasma membrane
Ribosomes
Vacuoles
Chromosomes

- Usually in the form of

chromatin
- Contains genetic
information
- Composed of DNA
- Thicken for cellular
division
- Set number per species
(i.e. 23 pairs for huma
Nuclear membrane


- Surrounds nucleus
- Composed of two
layers
- Numerous openings
for nuclear traffic
Nucleolus

 Spherical shape
- Visible when cell is
not dividing
- Contains RNA for
protein manufacture
Centrioles

 - Paired cylindrical
organelles near nucleus
- Composed of nine
tubes, each with three
tubules
- Involved in cellular
division
- Lie at right angles to
each other
Chloroplasts

 - A plastid usually found

in plant cells
- Contain green
chlorophyll where
photosynthesis takes
place
Cytoskeleton

 - Composed of
microtubules
- Supports cell and
provides shape
- Aids movement of
materials in and out of
cells
Endoplasmic reticulum

 - Tubular network fused to

nuclear membrane
- Goes through cytoplasm
onto cell membrane
- Stores, separates, and
serves as cell's transport
system
- Smooth type: lacks
ribosomes
- Rough type (pictured):
ribosomes embedded in
surface
Golgi apparatus

- Protein 'packaging
plant'
- A membrane structure
found near nucleus
- Composed of
numerous layers
forming a sac
Lysosome
 Digestive 'plant' for
proteins, lipids, and
carbohydrates
- Transports undigested
material to cell membrane
for removal
- Vary in shape depending
on process being carried out
- Cell breaks down if
lysosome explodes
Mitochondria

 Second largest organelle

with unique genetic
structure
- Double-layered outer
membrane with inner folds
called cristae
- Energy-producing
chemical reactions take
place on cristae
- Controls level of water and
other materials in cell
- Recycles and decomposes
proteins, fats, and
carbohydrates, and forms
urea
Ribosomes

 Each cell contains

thousands
- Miniature 'protein
factories'
- Composes 25% of cell's
mass
- Stationary type: embedded
in rough endoplasmic
reticulum
- Mobile type: injects
proteins directly into
cytoplasm
Vacuoles
 - Membrane-bound sacs
for storage, digestion,
and waste removal
- Contains water
solution
- Contractile vacuoles
for water removal (in
unicellular organisms)
Cell wall
 - Most commonly found in
plant cells
- Controls turgity
- Extracellular structure
surrounding plasma
membrane
- Primary cell wall:
extremely elastic
- Secondary cell wall: forms
around primary cell wall
after growth is complete
Plasma membrane
 Outer membrane of cell
that controls cellular
traffic
- Contains proteins (left,
gray) that span through
the membrane and allow
passage of materials
- Proteins are
surrounded by a
phospholipid bi-layer.
 Functions of Blood

 1 - Transportation:
 oxygen & carbon dioxide
 nutrients
 waste products (metabolic wastes, excessive water, & ions)
 2 - Regulation - hormones & heat (to regulate body
temperature)
 3 - Protection - clotting mechanism protects against
blood loss & leucocytes provide immunity against
many disease-causing agents
 1 - Formed elements:
 Red blood cells (or
erythrocytes)
 White blood cells (or
leucocytes)
 Platelets (or
thrombocytes)
 2 - Plasma = water +
dissolved solutes
Determining the hematocrit
 Erythropoiesis
 formation of erythrocytes
 the body must produce about 2.5 million new RBCs every
second
 in adults, erythropoiesis occurs mainly in the marrow of the
sternum, ribs, vertebral processes, and skull bones
 begins with a cell called a hemocytoblast or stem cell (below)
 rate is regulated by oxygen levels:
 hypoxia (lower than normal oxygen levels) is detected by cells in the
kidneys
 kidney cells release the hormone erythropoietin into the blood
 erythropoietin stimulates erythropoiesis by the bone marrow
 Red Blood Cells (or erythrocytes)

 1 - biconcave discs
 2 - lack a nucleus & cannot reproduce (average
lifespan = about 120 days)
 3 - transport hemoglobin (each RBC has about 280
million hemoglobin molecules)
 4 - Typical concentration is 4-6 million per cubic mm
(or hematocrit [packed cell volume] of about 42% for
females & 45% for males)
 5 - contain carbonic anhydrase (critical for transport
of carbon dioxide)
 Platelets
 1 - formed in the bone marrow from
cells called megakaryocytes (or
 2 - have no nucleus, but can secrete a
variety of substances & can also
thrombocytes)
contract (because they contain actin
& myosin)
 3 - normal concentration in the blood
is about 250,000 per cubic
millimeter
 4 - remain functional for about 7 - 10
days (after which they are removed
from the blood by macrophages in
the spleen & liver)
 5- play an important role in
hemostasis (preventing blood loss)
Plasma  1 - Water - serves as transport
medium; carries heat
 2 - Proteins
 Albumins
 60-80% of plasma proteins
 most important in maintenance of
osmotic balance
 produced by liver
 Globulins
 alpha & beta
 some are important for transport of
materials through the blood (e.g.,
thyroid hormone & iron)
 some are clotting factors
 produced by liver
 gamma globulins are
immunoglobulins (antibodies)
produced by lymphocytes
 Fibrinogen
 important in clotting
 produced by liver
Coagulation Pathway
Action potential

 Action potentials arriving at

the synapses of the upper
right neuron stimulate
currents in its dendrites;
these currents depolarize the
membrane at its
axon hillock, provoking an
action potential that
propagates down the axon to
its synaptic knobs, releasing
neurotransmitter and
stimulating the post-
synaptic neuron (lower left).
 Ion channels
 Main articles: Ion channel and Passive transport
 Ion channels are integral membrane proteins through which ions can cross
the membrane. Most channels are specific for one ion; whereas that ion
passes through relatively quickly, other similar ions pass through very
infrequently.[12] For example, although potassium and sodium ions have
the same charge and differ only slightly in their radius, potassium channels
allow few sodium ions through, and vice versa. The pore through which
the ion passes is typically so small that ions must pass through it alone and
single-file.[13] Channels are either fully open or fully closed. When the
channel is open, ions flow through it by passive transport, i.e., at a rate
determined by the membrane voltage Vm and concentration difference
across the membrane.[8] The action potential is a manifestation of different
ion channels opening and closing at different times
 The ionic currents of the action potential flow in
response to concentration differences of the ions
across the cell membrane. These concentration
differences are established by ion transporters,
which are integral membrane proteins that carry
out active transport, i.e., use cellular energy
(ATP) to "pump" the ions against their
concentration gradient.[17] Such ion pumps take
in ions from one side of the membrane
(decreasing its concentration there) and release
them on the other side (increasing its
concentration there). The ion pump most
relevant to the action potential is the
sodium–potassium pump, which transports three
sodium ions out of the cell and two potassium
ions in.[18] Consequently, the concentration of
potassium ions K+ inside the neuron is roughly
20-fold larger than the outside concentration,
whereas the sodium concentration outside is
roughly ninefold larger than inside.[19][20]
Similarly, other ions have different
concentrations inside and outside the neuron,
such as calcium, chloride and magnesium.[20]
 Synapses
 Chemical synapses
 Main articles: Chemical synapse , Neurotransmitter ,
Excitatory postsynaptic potential , and
Inhibitory postsynaptic potential
 Action potentials that reach the synaptic knobs generally cause a
neurotransmitter to be released into the synaptic cleft.[89]
Neurotransmitters are small molecules that may open ion channels
in the postsynaptic cell; most axons have the same neurotransmitter
at all of their termini. The arrival of the action potential opens
voltage-sensitive calcium channels in the pre-synaptic cell; the
influx of calcium causes vesicles filled with neurotransmitter to
migrate to the cell's surface and release their contents into the
synaptic cleft.[90] This complex process is inhibited by the
neurotoxins tetanospasmin and botulinum toxin , which are
responsible for tetanus and botulism, respectively.
 Electrical synapses

Main articles: Electrical synapse, Gap junction, and Connexin

Some synapses dispense with the "middleman" of the
neurotransmitter, and connect the presynaptic and postsynaptic
cells together.[92] When an action potential reaches such a
synapse, the ionic currents flowing into the presynaptic cell can
cross the barrier of the two cell membranes and enter the
postsynaptic cell through pores known as connexins.[93] Thus, the
ionic currents of the presynaptic action potential can directly
stimulate the postsynaptic cell. Electrical synapses allow for faster
transmission because they do not require the slow diffusion of
neurotransmitters across the synaptic cleft. Hence, electrical
synapses are used whenever fast response and coordination of
timing are crucial, as in escape reflexes, the retina of vertebrates,
and the heart.
 Unit II
Cardiac system
 Circles of Blood
 The ancient Greeks believed that
blood moved through the body
like an ocean tide, first moving
out of the heart and then ebbing
back to it in the same vessels. It
was not until the seventeenth
century that William Harvey, an
English physician, proved that
blood did, in fact, move in circles
through the body.
 The walls of arteries are usually
much thicker than the walls of
veins. Their tunica media, in
particular, tends to be much
heavier
 The largest artery is the
Aorta.
 Blood leaves the heart in
large arteries, moving into
successively smaller and
smaller arteries and then
into the arterioles, which
feed the capillary beds in
the tissues. Capillary beds ar
 Blood Pressure

 Measuring Blood
Pressure with a
SphygmomanometerBl
ood pressure is reported
in millimeters of
mercury (mm Hg)
 Arterial blood pressure is directly related to
cardiac output and peripheral resistance.
Peripheral resistance is the amount of
friction encountered by the blood as it flows
through the blood vessels. Any factor that
increases either the cardiac output or
peripheral resistance causes an almost
immediate reflex rise in blood pressure.
Nervous System
 The basic structural and
functional unit of the
nervous system is the nerve
cell or NEURON. It is
important to come to grips
with the neuron and the
terminology relating to its
parts now, otherwise much
of the material on
organization of the nervous
system will not make sense
to you. Here is a schematic
drawing of a typical nerve
cell
 The nervous system also
contains cells which are not
neurons and which do not
DIRECTLY participate in the
task of sending and receiving
electrical signals. These
supporting cells are called
GLIA. There are several
types of glia, but for our
present purposes we will be
concerned with only two
types: those that form
MYELIN SHEATHS around
axons in the central and
peripheral nervous systems.
 SYMATHETIC
 increase in heart rate
 decrease in gastric motility
 decrease in secretion of
salivary and digestive
glands
 dilation of pupils
 Ejaculation
 Vasoconstriction
 dilation of bronchioles
 increased secretion of sweat
glands
 PARASYMPATHETIC
 decrease in heart rate
 increase in gastric motility
 increase in secretion of
salivary and digestive
glands
 constriction of pupils
 penile erection
 contraction of smooth
muscle in walls of bladder
 Electroencephalography
 Electroencephalography (EEG) is the measurement of
electrical activity produced by the brain as recorded from
electrodes placed on the scalp.
 Just as the activity in a computer can be perceived on multiple
different levels, from the activity of individual transistors to
the function of applications, so can the electrical activity of the
brain be described on relatively small to relatively large scales.
At one end are action potentials in a single axon or currents
within a single dendrite, and at the other end is the activity
measured by the scalp EEG.
Computer Electroencephalograph
 In conventional scalp EEG, the recording
is obtained by placing electrodes on the
scalp with a conductive gel or paste,
usually after preparing the scalp area by
light abrasion to reduce impedance due to
dead skin cells. The technique has been
advanced by the use of carbon nanotubes
to penetrate the outer layers of the skin for
improved electrical contact. The sensor is
known as ENOBIO [1]; however, this
technique is not in common research or
clinical use. Many systems typically use
electrodes, each of which is attached to an
individual wire. Some systems use caps or
nets into which electrodes are embedded;
this is particularly common when high-
density arrays of electrodes are needed
 Unit III
Respiratory System
 Nasal Passage

Tongue
Pharynx

The Trachea 
Bronchi Tubes is held open 
by partial 
Alveoli (air­sacs)
rings of 
cartilage.
Thin­walled blood vessels  Bronchioles pass 
called capillaries air to and from 
your alveoli.
Very thin cells line the 
alveoli so that O2 and 
CO2 can pass in and 
out of the blood.
 Capillary

Wall of the  Carbon Dioxide is 
air sac dropped off

Oxygen is picked up

Red Blood Cell
Blood Flow through Heart
Circulation back to Heart
 Unit IV

Digestive and Excretory system

Digestive system
Digestion Mouth


 • break food into small pieces

 • initial breakdown of carbohydrates
 • Esophagus
 • transports food to stomach
 • Stomach
 • continued digestion of carbohydrates
 • initial breakdown of proteins and lipids
 • Intestine
 • Small Intestine
 • completes process of digestion
 • absorption of nutrients into blood
stream
 • Large Intestine (colon)
 • compact material received from small
 intestine
 • reabsorb H2O
Digestive System
Histologic Organization of Digestive
Tube
Stomach
Stomach
Parietal Cells
Small Intestine
Small Intestine
Villus
Digestion and Absorption
 Glycocalyx on surface
 of microvilli:
 • Disaccharidases:
 hydrolyze
disaccharides
 into monosaccharides
 • Peptidases:
hydrolyze
 peptides in dipeptides
 and amino acids
Immune protection of intestine
Large Intestine
Histologic Organization of Digestive
Tube
Chemical Digestion in the Small
Intestine
 Processes of the Digestive System
 Ingestion – getting food into the mouth
 Propulsion – moving foods from one region of
the digestive system to another
Processes of the Digestive System
 Peristalsis – alternating
waves of contraction
 Segmentation – moving
materials back and forth
to aid in mixing
 Processes of the Digestive System
 Mechanical digestion
 Mixing of food in the mouth by the tongue
 Churning of food in the stomach
 Segmentation in the small intestine
 Body Energy Balance

 Energy intake = total energy output (heat +

work + energy storage)
 Energy intake is liberated during food oxidation
 Energy output
 Heat is usually about 60%
 Storage energy is in the form of fat or glycogen
Human Excretory System

 The urinary system (pictured

here) is composed of two kidneys,
two tubes called ureters, one
urinary bladder, and another tube
called the urethra.
 You probably know that the
kidneys filter blood, so it's no
surprise that there are a couple of
blood vessels attached directly to
each kidney. The full names of
these vessels are the renal artery
and the renal vein.
LAYERS OF THE
#1 - the CORTEX.
KIDNEY This layer is jam-packed with lots
& lots of those nephrons that I just
mentioned.
We'll get to the specifics on those
in just a second.
Think of the cortex as the filtering
layer of the kidney.
 #2 - the MEDULLA.
The middle layer. Think of it as
the collecting layer.
Tubes carrying filtered wastes
travel from the cortex, through the
medulla towards the pelvis.
 #3 - the PELVIS.
This is the area where all of the
collecting tubules come together
& connect with the ureter (which
is structure #4).
The ureter transports the wastes
(urine) to the urinary bladder.
THE NEPHRON - the structural
units of the Kidney
 Excretory System Functions |

 Collect water and filter body fluids.

 Remove and concentrate waste products
from body fluids and return other substances
to body fluids as necessary for homeostasis.
 Eliminate excretory products from the body.
Excretory system
Excretory system
 The Nephron

 The nephron consists of a cup-shaped capsule

containing capillaries and the glomerulus, and a long
renal tube. Blood flows into the kidney through the
renal artery, which branches into capillaries
associated with the glomerulus. Arterial pressure
causes water and solutes from the blood to filter into
the capsule. Fluid flows through the proximal tubule,
which include the loop of Henle, and then into the
distal tubule. The distal tubule empties into a
collecting duct. Fluids and solutes are returned to the
capillaries that surround the nephron tubule.
 The nephron has three functions:
 Glomerular filtration of water and solutes
from the blood.
 Tubular reabsorption of water and conserved
molecules back into the blood.
 Tubular secretion of ions and other waste
products from surrounding capillaries into
the distal tubule.
 Kidney Function

 Maintain volume of extracellular fluid

 Maintain ionic balance in extracellular fluid
 Maintain pH and osmotic concentration of
the extracellular fluid.
 Excrete toxic metabolic by-products such as
urea, ammonia, and uric acid.
Hormone Control of Water and Salt

 Water reabsorption is controlled by the antidiuretic

hormone (ADH) in negative feedback. ADH is released from
the pituitary gland in the brain. Dropping levels of fluid in the
blood signal the hypothalamus to cause the pituitary to release
ADH into the blood. ADH acts to increase water absorption in
the kidneys. This puts more water back in the blood,
increasing the concentration of the urine. When too much fluid
is present in the blood, sensors in the heart signal the
hypothalamus to cause a reduction of the amounts of ADH in
the blood. This increases the amount of water absorbed by the
kidneys, producing large quantities of a more dilute urine
 Unit V

SPECIAL SENSES
The Physiology of Hearing
 Introduction

 The physiology of our hearing mechanism can conveniently be divided

into three topics:
 1 The outer ear (auricle or pinna) and ear canal
2 The middle ear
3 The inner ear
 The Auricle and Ear Canal.
Each hole in the side of the skull leads into an ear canal. The ear canal is an
irregular cylinder with an average diameter of less than 0.8 mm and about
2.5 cm long.
 The ear canal (figure 1) is open at the outer end which is surrounded by the
pinna (or auricle). The pinna plays an important spacial focusing role in
hearing. The canal then narrows slightly and widens towards its inner end,
which is sealed off by the eardrum.
 Thus the canal is a shaped tube enclosing a resonating column of air - with
the combination of open and closed ends. This makes it rather like an
organ pipe
 THE EAR CANAL.
 The ear canal supports (resonates or enhances) sound vibrations best at the
frequencies which the human ears hear most sharply. This resonance
amplifies the variations of air pressure that make up sound waves, placing
a peak pressure directly at the eardrum.
 For frequencies between approximately 2 KHz and 5.5 KHz, the sound
pressure level at the eardrum is approximately 10 times the pressure of the
sound at the auricle.
 The Eardrum - interface between outer and middle ear.
Airborne sound waves reach only as far as the eardrum. Here they are
converted into mechanical vibrations in the solid materials of the middle
ear.
 Sounds (air pressure waves) first set up sympathetic vibrations in the taunt
membrane of the eardrum, just as they do in the diaphragm of some types
of microphone. The eardrum passes these vibrations on to the middle ear
structure.
The Auditory Pathway
 Neurophysiology of
Vision
• Visual pathways
• Retinotopic mapping of neural images
• Physiology of LGN & visual cortex
• Information processing by the visual
 brain
 How do growing axons of developing
 optic nerve know where to go?
 How do axons find the optic nerve head?
 • Pathfinder neurons?
 • Glial channels?
 Cell death is major factor in decussation.
 • Exhuberant over-production of axons saturate
 target nuclei.
 • Inappropriate connections retract due to lack of
 “sustaining trophic factors”.
 • 50-75% of all RGCs die before birth (apoptosis)
 • Cell death and non-uniform growth of eye
 produces regional variations in cell density (fovea).
 Neuropathologies
 Rod disease (retinitis pigmentosa,
 night blindness)
 • Cone dysfunctions (macular
 degeneration, rod monochromism)
 • Selective loss of optic nerve fibers
 (ischemia, glaucoma, optic neuritis)
 • Failure/slowing of neural transmission
 (MS demyelination, neurotoxicity)
 • CNS dysfunction (cortical
 Structural organization of the
visual pathways determines
their function.

 Primary Visual Functions:

 CONSCIOUS PERCEPTION of OBJECTS & EVENTS
 (using form, depth, movement, color, texture)
 • SUB-CONSCIOUS CONTROL of MOTOR ACTIVITY
 (visually-guided positioning of head, eyes, hands,
 limbs, body posture)
Advanced Features of Sense Organ

• wide field of view

• diffraction-limited image quality (< 3mm pupil)
• gradient-index lens (reduces aberrations)
• auto-focus (accommodation, emmetropization)
• auto-exposure, depth of focus (pupil)
• fast positioning (saccadic eye movements)
• auto-tracking (smooth pursuits)
• coordinated binocular control (version)
• wide operating range of illumination
• fast, local adaptation to ambient illumination
• variable resolution across visual field
• sophisticated image compression schemes
• fusion of hemi-fields, binocular images
Useful Features of a Sensory System

1. Selectivity: System must extract biologically

useful information from a flood of sensory data.
2. Speed: In life, as in baseball, there is no
substitute for speed. Survival depends upon it.
3. Sensitivity: Small changes in the stimulus
(chromatic, spatial, temporal) may be important.
4. Adaptability: Coping with changes in the
ambient conditions (environment) increases the
liklihood of survival.
5. Reliability: The key to long-term success.
Ocular Pigmentation in Siamese and
White Cats