Anatomy and Physiology: Case Study A

Running head: ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY
Anatomy and Physiology
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY
Case study: A
Q 1
The ideal body weight for Brodie will be 67.6 - 82.5 kg and the waist circumference
will be less than 36 inches that is less than 91.44 cm (Lumb 2016, pp: 32). This from the
above observation, it can be said that Brodie is over-weight.
Being over-weight is associated with several health-related risks like cardiovascular
disease and type 2 diabetes mellitus and high blood cholesterol level (Mitchell et al. 2014, pp:
13-18). The case study highlights that Brodie suffers from high blood pressure and high level
of blood cholesterol. In order to decrease his health related risk of Brodie due to being over-
weight, needs to make certain lifestyle changes like physical exercise. Since he has been
detected with upper respiratory infection, for the time being he will not be able to continue
doing physical exercise but can abide by healthy yet nutritional diet, which is free from fat
and cholesterol and scores less in carbohydrate. This will help to work on his escalating
weight (Johns et al. 2014, pp: 1158). The diet plan of Brodie will mainly emphasize on the
reduce cholesterol intake within the body as he is already suffering from hypercholestromia.
The cholesterol-free diet will mainly exclude butter, fat cheese, milk, cream, coconut, palm
oils and coconut cream. Moreover, Brodie is also required to reduce his overall calories
intake in order to reduce the conversion of extra calorie into fat. The reduction of calorie in-
take can be done via decreasing the amount of intake of carbohydrate. The carbohydrate on
the other hand must be replaced with fresh fruits and vegetables in order retain the nutritional
and vitamin value within the body (Evert et al. 2014, pp: 120).
Q 2
During cellular respiration, the mitochondria present within the skeletal muscle cells
converts glucose from the blood into carbon dioxide and water while producing ATP. This is
known as aerobic respiration.
C6H12O6 + 6O2 → 6CO2 + 6H2O (glucose + oxygen -> carbon dioxide + water).
Anaerobic respiration occurs in cell cytoplasm. It leads to the production of energy
(ATP) and lactic acid from glucose. However, it produces less energy in comparison to
aerobic respiration and does not require oxygen. It mainly occurs in tissues, which have high-

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energy demand like working muscles. In working muscles, there is not adequate oxygen to
generate all the energy needed via using aerobic respiration alone.
C6H12O6 -> 2C3H6O3 (Glucose -> Lactic acid)
The lactic acid produced is oxidised afterwards to carbon dioxide and water to prevent
lactic acid build up. This process again requires oxygen thus following anaerobic respiration
there is oxygen deficiency in the cell, as oxygen is used to break down the lactic acid.
Thus it can be said that the main preferred type of exercise for skeletal muscles is
anaerobic respiration. In muscles cells there is always high oxygen demand and thus in order
to preserve oxygen for the future purpose, anaerobic respiration is used. This is the reason
why rigours exercise leads to the development of pain in the joints due to accumulation of
lactic acid post exercise (Plowman & Smith 2013, pp: 55).
Q 3
Oxygen transport inside and outside of the body organs mainly takes place by the
body fluid, blood. Blood is made up of plasma and within the blood plasma there are EBR,
WBC and platelets. The iron containing red-coloured pigment present in RBC, haemoglobin
plays an important role in oxygen transport throughput the body. In lungs, the concentration
of oxygen is high and here the oxygen binds reversibly with the heme ring of the
haemoglobin (with the iron molecule or the prophyrin ring). While reaching at the body
organs where the oxygen concentration is low, the binding of the oxygen with haemoglobin
breaks leading to the transport of oxygen from the haemoglobin to the body tissue. The
prophyrin ring of the haemoglobin in turn takes up the carbon-dioxide from the body cells in
return on oxygen and brings to back to lungs for its excretion outside the body. The lungs
then exchange carbon-dioxide with atmospheric oxygen (Hall 2015, pp: 132).
Q4
The main function of the neurons (nerve cells) is executed via neuro-transmission.
Neuro-transmission is mainly the alteration of the electric potential across the cell members
caused by the opening and the closing of the voltage gated ion channels when an particular
action potential is generated. The main modulator of the voltage gated ion channels are
sodium, potassium and calcium ions. The arrival of the action potential at the axon terminus
leads to secretion of chemicals known as neurotransmitter leasing to neuro-transmission

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through one cell to another. The body of a neurone is sub-divided into four distinct regions:
the cell-body, axon and axon terminals and dendrites (Hall 2015, pp: 133).
Figure: Structure of Neuron
(Source: Alberts et al. 2013)
Axons are specialised for the conduction of action potentials. An action potential is
defined as a series of events in the voltage or electric potential across the plasma membrane.
When a neuron is resting (non-stimulated), the electrical action potential across the axonal
membrane is -60mV (inside negative in comparison to outside). At the peak of the action
potential, the membrane potential becomes inside positive (+50mv) with a net change in the
voltage of nearly 110 mV. This is known as depolarization of the membrane followed by
sharp hyper-polarization and then rapid re-polarization. It is during the membrane de-
polarization that the transmission of the electrical impulses occurs (Hall 2015, pp: 133).