Table of Contents
- Page ID
- 13800
Anatomy is the branch of biology concerned with the study of the structure of organisms and their parts. Physiology is the scientific study of the normal function in living systems with a focus on how organisms, organ systems, organs, cells, and biomolecules carry out the chemical or physical functions in a living system. Anatomy and physiology make a natural pair of related disciplines that are often studied together.
Unit 1: Levels of Organization
Unit 1 provide students with a basic understanding of human anatomy and physiology, including its language, the levels of organization, and the basics of chemistry and cell biology. These chapters provide a foundation for the further study of the body. They also focus particularly on how the body’s regions, important chemicals, and cells maintain homeostasis.1: An Introduction to the Human Body
This chapter begins with an overview of anatomy and physiology and a preview of the body regions and functions. It then covers the characteristics of life and how the body works to maintain stable conditions. It introduces a set of standard terms for body structures and for planes and positions in the body that will serve as a foundation for more comprehensive information covered later in the text. It ends with examples of medical imaging used to see inside the living body.3: The Cellular Level of Organization
Cellular and developmental biologists study how the continued division of a single cell leads to such complexity and differentiation.
Unit 2: Support and Movement
In Unit 2, students explore the skin, the largest organ of the body, and examine the body’s skeletal and muscular systems, following a traditional sequence of topics. This unit is the first to walk students through specific systems of the body, and as it does so, it maintains a focus on homeostasis as well as those diseases and conditions that can disrupt it.6: Bone Tissue and the Skeletal System
The human skeleton is the internal framework of the body. It is composed of 270 bones at birth and decreases to 206 bones by adulthood after some bones have fused together. The human skeleton serves six major functions: support, movement, protection, production of blood cells, storage of ions, and endocrine regulation.7: Axial Skeleton
The axial skeleton is the part of the skeleton that consists of the bones of the head and trunk of a vertebrate. It consists of 80 bones and is composed of six parts: the skull bones, the ossicles of the middle ear, the hyoid bone, the rib cage, sternum and the vertebral column.8: The Appendicular Skeleton
Your skeleton provides the internal supporting structure of the body. The adult axial skeleton consists of 80 bones that form the head and body trunk. Attached to this are the limbs, whose 126 bones constitute the appendicular skeleton. These bones are divided into two groups: the bones that are located within the limbs themselves, and the girdle bones that attach the limbs to the axial skeleton. The bones of the shoulder region form the pectoral girdle.10: Muscle Tissue
Muscle tissue is a soft tissue that composes muscles in animal bodies, and gives rise to muscles' ability to contract. This is opposed to other components or tissues in muscle such as tendons or perimysium. Muscle tissue varies with function and location in the body. In mammals the three types are: skeletal or striated muscle; smooth or non-striated muscle; and cardiac muscle, which is sometimes known as semi-striated.
Unit 3: Regulation, Integration, and Control
Unit 3 helps students answer questions about nervous and endocrine system control and regulation. In a break with the traditional sequence of topics, the special senses are integrated into the chapter on the somatic nervous system. The chapter on the neurological examination offers students a unique approach to understanding nervous system function using five simple but powerful diagnostic tests.13: Anatomy of the Nervous Tissue
The nervous system is responsible for controlling much of the body, both through somatic (voluntary) and autonomic (involuntary) functions. The structures of the nervous system must be described in detail to understand how many of these functions are possible. There is a physiological concept known as localization of function that states that certain structures are specifically responsible for prescribed functions. It is an underlying concept in all of anatomy and physiology, but the nervous sys14: The Somatic Nervous System
The somatic nervous system is the part of the peripheral nervous system and is associated with skeletal muscle voluntary control of body movements.16: The Neurological Exam
The nervous system is made up of the brain and spinal cord as the central organs, and the ganglia and nerves as organs in the periphery. The brain and spinal cord can be thought of as a collection of smaller organs, most of which would be the nuclei (such as the oculomotor nuclei), but white matter structures play an important role (such as the corpus callosum).17: The Endocrine System
To survive, animals must constantly adapt to changes in the environment. The nervous and endocrine systems both work together to bring about this adaptation. In general the nervous system responds rapidly to short-term changes by sending electrical impulses along nerves and the endocrine system brings about longer-term adaptations by sending out chemical messengers called hormones into the blood stream.
Unit 4: Fluids and Transport
In Unit 4, students examine the principal means of transport for materials needed to support the human body, regulate its internal environment, and provide protection.19: The Cardiovascular System - The Heart
There is no single better word to describe the function of the heart other than “pump,” since its contraction develops the pressure that ejects blood into the major vessels: the aorta and pulmonary trunk. From these vessels, the blood is distributed to the remainder of the body. Although the connotation of the term “pump” suggests a mechanical device made of steel and plastic, the anatomical structure is a living, sophisticated muscle.
Unit 5: Energy, Maintenance, and Environmental Exchange
In Unit 5, students discover the interaction between body systems and the outside environment for the exchange of materials, the capture of energy, the release of waste, and the overall maintenance of the internal systems that regulate the exchange. The explanations and illustrations are particularly focused on how structure relates to function.22: The Respiratory System
The respiratory system consists of specific organs and structures used for the process of respiration in an organism. The respiratory system is involved in the intake and exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide between an organism and the environment.24: Metabolism and Nutrition
This chapter will take you through some of the chemical reactions essential to life, the sum of which is referred to as metabolism. The focus of these discussions will be anabolic reactions and catabolic reactions. You will examine the various chemical reactions that are important to sustain life, including why you must have oxygen, how mitochondria transfer energy, and the importance of certain “metabolic” hormones and vitamins.26: Fluid, Electrolyte, and Acid-Base Balance
Homeostasis, or the maintenance of constant conditions in the body, is a fundamental property of all living things. In the human body, the substances that participate in chemical reactions must remain within narrows ranges of concentration. Too much or too little of a single substance can disrupt your bodily functions. Because metabolism relies on reactions that are all interconnected, any disruption might affect multiple organs or even organ systems.
Unit 6: Human Development and the Continuity of Life
Unit 6 examine the male and female reproductive systems, describe the process of human development and the different stages of pregnancy, and end with a review of the mechanisms of inheritance.